DICE cancels 'Battlefield V' close combat mode to help its focus
It hopes this will increase the chances of reaching other goals on time.
DICE has been piling features on Battlefield V ever since launch. Now, however, it's dialing things back. The developers have scrapped the planned five-on-five close combat mode after determining that it was needed to hit "bug-crushing and content goals" in a timely fashion, as Senior Producer Ryan McArthur put it. The team can not only "better deliver" on promises of material it knows people want, but offer "new ways" to enjoy current modes.
It's not certain why this mode got the cut where other changes didn't, but it may be a simple matter of concentrating on what BFV does best. The Battlefield series is defined by large-scale multiplayer bouts, and even the Firestorm battle royale mode lines up with that philosophy. Intimate ten-player matches? Not so much -- as Eurogamer suggested, that's what Call of Duty is for. Rather than trying to compete with as many rival shooters as possible, DICE appears happier to focus on those areas where Battlefield stands out.
