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EA’s Dev Chief Thought Battlefield 1’s WW1 Setting Wouldn’t Be Fun

We can change him!

Battlefield 1

Battlefield 1 was announced recently, and it was revealed that the campaign would have a World War 1 setting. However, in an interview with Eurogamer, EA’s development chief, Patrick Söderlund, said that he initially rejected the concept because he thought it wouldn’t be fun to play. DICE refused to accept this pitch rejection, and they even created a short demo that ultimately changed Söderlund’s mind. Battlefield 1 producer Aleks Grondal also mentioned to Eurogamer that the team had been wanting to make a WW1 game for a decade, so that would explain their passion for the project.

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“We wanted to provide some really new gameplay opportunities,” Grondal said.

“And we wanted to challenge ourselves. We had made a few games set in the modern era, quite a few in a row. We thought this setting had so much cool stuff in it, and it fit our needs.

“Also, it shouldn’t be a secret that this is for some people in the studio an idea they wanted to do for at least 10 years.”

“The good news is whenever you take a creative risk and it works, you can get to substantial success,” Söderlund said.

“What the internet is telling us with 31m views and the most seen trailer in the history of EA, is the World War 1 theme is resonating with players out there. We’ve done something that will be right for the franchise and right for EA.”

Battlefield 1 is set to be released for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC on October 21.

Thanks, Eurogamer.

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About the author

Zhiqing Wan

Zhiqing is the Reviews Editor for Twinfinite, and a History graduate from Singapore. She's been in the games media industry for nine years, trawling through showfloors, conferences, and spending a ridiculous amount of time making in-depth spreadsheets for min-max-y RPGs. When she's not singing the praises of Amazon's Kindle as the greatest technological invention of the past two decades, you can probably find her in a FromSoft rabbit hole.

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