Watch the new Devastation of Rotterdam trailer for Battlefield V and pay very close attention to the final seconds. This is our very first tease of the first battle royale experience coming from developer DICE and publisher Electronic Arts.
Rumored for months before the game was even officially announced, during Battlefield V's reveal event in London it was confirmed that the World War II themed shooter would indeed get a battle royale mode of sorts post-launch as part of the game's "Tides of War" live service where all DLC and expansions will be free.
Related: Battlefield V's Shared Progression System Explained
Even Battlefield V's flagship mode, Grand Operations, will release as part of Tides of War when it launches a few weeks after the game's release. That first tide, so to speak, is the "Fall of Europe." We expect the battle royale experience to be part of something similar in the future.
Judging by early reports and rumors, like Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 the battle royale must-have is a relatively late add-on, something every major publisher must explore given how the genre is dominating the shooter market. If this game didn't have a battle royale experience, when it lends itself so well to that large-scale play-style (and already supports vehicles and large maps), it's hurt the game's brand substantially in the comparisons alone.
This teaser up top reaffirms that Battlefield battle royale is coming, perhaps sooner than we thought, and the timing is especially interesting since this is the Gamescom trailer and now the devs attending the event to showcase the game will be subjected to questions surrounding this. This means it's part of the larger marketing and PR campaign and the devs already have media-approved answers so expect more news on this soon. Of course, this little brief reveal is also timed with the news that Call of Duty's own battle royale experience will be playable on September 10th as the "Blackout" beta goes live on all platforms.
Battlefield V's own open beta also goes live in September but specific details have yet to be revealed. As for the battle royale experience, we can already see that armored vehicles will be something unique to DICE's battle royale along with the circle of fire. There doesn't seem to be any way of surviving being late into the safe area. Our big question though is how the game will handle player counts? The magic number is 100 and some in-development games are already promising even greater numbers while the chief competition is rumored to support only 60. Will DICE really stick with 64-player caps like it has since the franchise's beginning 15 years ago or can it double that?
What are your thoughts and expectations of the Battlefield V battle royale experience?