With the current Into the Jungle chapter of Battlefield V wrapping up soon, DICE has outlined what's in the immediate future for the game. As per the headline that means a still-to-be-revealed Chapter full on new content, with the team noting, "we’re still tackling the challenges from working from home and will let you know how things progress for us over the next month".

Chapter 6 is on track for a June release - with the immediate future for Battlefield V outlined as follows.

New Content: A new update will be released this summer.

Weekly Rewards: Following the summer update, you’ll receive Battlefield Currency or Company Coin as Weekly Rewards, giving you a chance to unlock gear you may have missed.

Events and Activities: We’re also planning various weekly initiatives such as the reintroduction of #FridayNightBattlefield servers, where the community can play Battlefield V in a friendly atmosphere. Throwback Thursdays, where we'll look to bring you together across all of our Battlefield titles are in the works, too.

We are continuing our work on Community Games Updates. We are committed to bringing these to the game and we’ll keep you updated on when you can expect them to start coming online.

Ryan McArthur, Senior Producer on the game added that continued work to minimise cheating will continue with work in that regard happening daily by a dedicated anti-cheat team.

With the next chapter in the on-going support for Battlefield V taking the Pacific battles to the jungle setting of the Solomon Islands. TTK issues and controversy aside, we've been impressed by the post-launch support for the latest Battlefield - and how diverse the locales, maps, and weapons are.

Here's the first look at Battlefield V Chapter 6: Into the Jungle and the new Solomon Islands map.

DEPLOY ON A NEW CLOSE-QUARTER MAP

Danger and opportunity are everywhere. On Solomon Islands, you’ll fight through a jungle environment where you never know what’s lurking around the riverbend, by the dark mangroves, or in the hidden bunkers.

Whether you’re launching an American attack or defending the Japanese lines, the terrain can be your best friend – or your worst enemy.

Rivers and marshes block the path for infantry and tanks, but savvy soldiers can make the bottlenecks work for them. You’ll charge through narrow paths winding through dense jungle and fight over covered strongholds.

We’ve designed Solomon Islands for intimate jungle infantry combat combined with land and sea vehicle warfare. You’ll notice how a mode like Breakthrough shines when played on this map. Defenders can stay hidden and use the terrain to hold the line, but attackers will have several options: flanking, sending in infantry, or utilizing landing boats for a frontal assault.

For more info on the update - head here.

As part of Chapter 5 of post-release content for Battlefield V, which introduces two new factions (American and Japanese forces) and the return of classic maps and locales like Iwo Jima, Pacific Storm, and Wake Island (arriving in December). It all sounds great, which is made even more exciting by the accompanying cinematic trailer for the War in the Pacific update.

Check it out.



Alongside the new factions comes new weapons to suit American and Japanese fighters - including the M1 Garand. That developer DICE ensures fans will feature that final round 'ping' sound veteran Battlefield players will recall. And as per the trailer above, this also means new Pacific arena vehicles too.

For more details on the update - head here.

In the form of the new Operation Underground map that aims to bring back the utter close-quarter chaos of Battlefield 3's iconic Operation Metro. Based on the new trailer it looks intense and chaotic in all the right ways, for what might not be everyone's cup of Battlefield-flavoured tea. But, damn, if we don't have fond memories of playing Metro.

Check it out.

Operation Underground takes place in a war-ridden German city environment where you’ll battle for control both above and below ground. The map can be played in the Conquest, Squad Conquest, Breakthrough, and Team Deathmatch game modes. For limited time periods, Rush will be a supported game mode, too.

From choke points to destructible environments and pyrotechnics aplenty the Battlefield V version of this map looks impressive. Best of all the designer behind Metro was in charge of making Underground a reality, with key changes including the removal of bottlenecks in favour of flanking routes and more dynamic action.

With a new name and look - Operation Underground. Fans of Battlefield's Operation Metro will remember it as that map that quickly devolved into pure chaos - a meat grinder of action that is the series at its most hectic. Of course there are some that don't like the map, but we're of the camp that believe that there's always room for another round of Metro. The new map gets teased in the latest Battlefield V Chapter 4: Defying the Odds trailer.

Which kicks off June 27 and will sees a number of maps released throughout winter. They all look pretty impressive too, with the streets of Marita continuing the Battle of Greece, and the massive Al Sundan map being quintessential Battlefield.



But really, it's all about that Operation Underground which EA and DICE refer to as a "meat grinder", meaning it will definitely be the WWII equivalent of Metro. There will be a livestream detailing the new maps, including Metro 2019, this weekend as part of EA Play - which you can watch here.

Giving something like regular community updates and engagement a name like Operation Sunrise might sound a little weird, but in doing so the Battlefield V team is looking to actively involve its players in all upcoming updates to the game. With the first post as part of the renewed effort, acknowledging the game's somewhat rocky launch.

"Now the launch of BFV did not go as smoothly as we had hoped," begins the post. "You were missing experiences you expected, some areas of the game were not what you anticipated from us, and our day to day transparency from Reveal to Today was inconsistent and could have been better."

Adding, "We have been working hard over the last few months to fix the issues you are seeing and to add the experiences on offer. We want to move forward and kick off, towards an ever-changing live service."

As part of Operation Sunrise the main focuses will be regular community broadcasts, and communication that will actively showcase what's being worked on and the reasoning behind any potential tweaks or changes. Plus, "When we make mistakes, or something goes wrong. We will talk about it."

And more detailed roadmaps and monthly community surveys. As Battlefield V represents the first game in the series in recent years that hasn't been released alongside a Season Pass, the new live service model is one that will hopefully improve over time. In terms of new content, the planned Battle Royale Firestorm mode is still on track for release this month.

With Squad Conquest presenting an intense 8 v 8 battle between teams as they attempt to capture or hold various points. As part of the continued post-launch Tides of War campaign of free updates, events, and seasonal content for all Battlefield V players, Chapter 2: Lightning Strikes also sees the arrival of the long-awaited co-op mode. Whilst also paving the way for the upcoming Battle Royale mode - Firestorm.

Where, as per the new trailer below, it looks like tractors are being added as vehicles. Which is both unexpected, and cool.



Chapter 2: Lightning Strikes begins this week for all players, with Squad Conquest kicking off the new batch of content. The new Combined Arms co-op mode, as highlighted in the trailer, is due in February. Supporting teams of four players, Combined Arms is being described as offering "endless variation regarding objectives, locations, and challenges" where difficulty, classes, and so forth combine with the mission design to add replay value. The return of Rush is coming in March, paving the way for Chapter 3 and the arrival of Battlefield V Battle Royale.

Of course there's a lot more to the update coming this week, including a new Grand Operation, weapons, and various fixes and tweaks including better ways to see just how you died. Although sales so far have been lackluster compared to other titles in the series, it's clear from this new update that Battlefield V is getting better as it builds on an already strong foundation. For the first round of Chapter 2 updates and patch notes - check out this document.

Which increased the time it took to take out other players to make the experience of playing Battlefield V more friendly to casual players. The results, naturally, didn't go as planned with veteran players disliking the changes - which resulted in exchanges that were unlike anything ever seen in a Battlefield game before.

Like this, as captured by Joab Gilroy.

Hey @battlefield @EA_DICE this new TTK is out of control pic.twitter.com/88JvHoGgc7

— Joab Gilroy (@Joabyjojo) December 13, 2018

The initial response or how DICE and EA planned to cater to those that preferred the traditional or even launch-week Battlefield V experience was to create Core servers that would utilise the old TTK values. Which it then planned to expand to all other modes based on the mounting feedback that the new bullet-sponge-dance approach to combat wasn't going over too well.

Which brings us to today, and a new community post over at Reddit stating,

We’ve committed to giving you an update this week around Battlefield V’s TTK (Time To Kill) adjustments, as seen in last Friday’s letter to the community. After rolling out those changes last week, we’ve listened to your feedback, reviewed our statistical data, and have made the decision to return to the original TTK values seen at launch.

Adding,

We have learned a lot over the past week. We’ve gained clarity on the issues you’ve shared with us around Time To Death (TTD), we’ve identified imbalances in weapons, and have recorded real-world data on how TTK changes our game and impactS our players. With that knowledge we have a better idea of how to improve the game going forward, and have already begun taking steps to improve the experience for all our players, new and veteran.

And thus ends the great Battlefield TTK experiment. For the full statement head here.

After a few weeks of early access, premium access, and pre-release access EA and DICE's Battlefield V is out now. The new entry which sees the series go back to its WWII roots certainly lives up to that promise. And although playable across most major platforms - the PC version, thanks to NVIDIA's new RTX line of graphics cards is without a doubt the most impressive.

Thanks in part to the excellent technical work by Battlefield developer DICE, on PC with a GeForce RTX card, namely the 2080 Ti - Battlefield V is a showcase for just how impressive 4K gaming can be. Outside of our review this is how we've been playing Battlefield V in recent weeks, where on PC it looks simply stunning. From the best HDR implementation we've ever seen to cutting edge effects and detail that the 2080 Ti has no trouble handling. It even makes it look easy - 4K 60fps perfection really.



Also, Battlefield V is the first title to implement the highly touted RTX-powered real-time ray tracing technology first demoed by NVIDIA months ago. In execution it means an overall lower resolution, but as a glimpse into the future it serves as an impressive tech demo for where the industry is ultimately headed. We've been playing around with the feature over the past week and can definitely say that when it comes to pure spectacle, explosions with ray-tracing is a sight to behold.

So, with that in mind it makes sense that NVIDIA is offering up Battlefield V with every new GeForce RTX purchase. For more details, head here. The bundle is available through to January 7, 2019.

In another quick bit of NVIDIA news, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus just got its NAS patch which "increases rendering performance and quality by applying varying amount of processing power to different areas of the image". In real-time it means a near 144fps performance cap running in 4K on the 2080 Ti. Which is, well, impressive to say the least.

Our NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti has so far been a powerhouse when it comes to 4K gaming on PC - pushing frame-rates that until recently wasn't possible. We're talking Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus at over 120 frames-per-second. In 4K. Not breaking a sweat. Battlefield V looking and running amazingly too, with the best HDR implementation we've ever seen.

But the only question, which is why our review on the card has been delayed, or issue - is that we wanted to see some real-time ray tracing in action. Which was a no show, until today. NVIDIA has released new Game Ready Drivers for Battlefield V with DXR Ray tracing. Plus, support for Hitman 2 and Fallout 76 too.

EA and DICE will add DXR real-time ray tracing in Battlefield V in an upcoming patch - which is scheduled to drop around the Battlefield V Deluxe Edition release window. Which is pretty soon.

We've taken Battlefield V to the same races we took Battlefield IV, but this time there's skylight above and fish in the water, writes Nathan Lawrence, in our naturally in-depth review.

Here's a snippet:

I was on the infamous Battlefield 4 review trip. It’s “infamous” because the game I played in Redwood, San Francisco and the game that launched felt like two different beasts. What I played was a stable online experience, afforded by controlled online matches powered by the kind of internet that, to this day, still seems like science fiction in Australia. For those who played Battlefield 4 at launch, though, they’d know how unplayable it was.

Ever since then, playing any sort of multiplayer-focused game, especially one built by DICE, under controlled review conditions breeds nervousness as to whether what I’ve played will compare to what is delivered. Despite its very apparent warts, last year’s Battlefront II had stable networking at launch. The same is true of Battlefield 1 and the recent Battlefield V beta was promising. Enough time has passed and DICE has learnt its lessons, it would seem, but I wanted to flag upfront that my experience of Battlefield V was played under controlled conditions in Sweden.

Click here for our in-depth Battlefield V review.

In a new post detailing the post-launch Battlefield V roadmap that will introduce free content coming for all players, we've got confirmation that the upcoming Battle Royale-inspired mode Firestorm is set to drop March 2019. This follows the addition of a new single-player War Story called The Last Tiger and a co-op mode called Combined Arms, in what looks to be a steady stream of new stuff.

Called Tides of War and split into different Chapters, each new addition will expand and grow the Battlefield V experience.

CHAPTER 1: OVERTURE (EARLY DECEMBER – JANUARY)
Roughly two weeks after Battlefield V’s release, we kick off Tides of War and its first chapter.

Chapter 1: Overture brings the Panzerstorm map, where the German mechanized war machine plunges into Belgium, smashing into Allied defensive forces. On this tank-focused arena, you’ll roll across ridges, ditches, and elevated roads with a massive force of armor, carving a path of destruction through the countryside.

The first chapter also lets you take on an addition to our single-player War Stories: The Last Tiger. In it, a lone Tiger Tank crew begins to question the ideology that got them to this point.

CHAPTER 2: LIGHTNING STRIKES (JANUARY – MARCH)
With Lightning Strikes arriving early next year, the Tides of War continue – this time with a focus on vehicle warfare and rapid infantry movement. The chapter brings to life the fear created by the Axis war machine through original content and challenges built around vehicle play.

Combined Arms: Join forces with up to three friends and take on the co-op experience of Combined Arms. In a series of Combat Strike missions across several maps, you and your squad will fight against AI components in various challenges.

CHAPTER 3: TRIAL BY FIRE (STARTING IN MARCH)
Battle Royale comes to Battlefield with Firestorm and the war reaches Greece as the third Tides of War chapter is unleashed in the Spring.

Firestorm: During spring, DICE and Criterion start the fire with Battlefield V’s battle royale experience. Firestorm elevates the mode by bringing in the best of what Battlefield is known for. Mix a shrinking playing field with trademark Battlefield elements such as team play, powerful vehicles, and destruction, and you get many unique Battlefield moments coming your way.

Each Chapter is also set to bring new maps and modes and feature with Chapter 1 introducing vehicle customisation and a Practice Range. Battlefield V launches November 20 for PC, Xbox One, and PS4 with early access available for premium editions and subscribers to Origin Access Premier.

Where the new mode pits 16 teams of four against each other in a giant sandbox filled with destructible buildings, vehicles, and weapons. And to keep thing tense a giant ring of fire will shrink the map size over time. This revelation comes as part of a new in-depth This is Battlefield V gameplay video.

Which details all the modes coming.



The new fortification system is also highlighted showcasing an almost Fortnite-feel to combat and setting up defenses. But that's selling the game short as it all still looks and feels like Battlefield, but bigger and more expansive.

With the new release date for Battlefield V now being November 20, meaning that its release has been pushed out of the October window that included the likes of Call of Duty Black Ops 4 and Red Dead Redemption 2. The reasoning for the delay has been chalked up to additional fine-tuning of the multiplayer modes and the arrival of the exciting new Tides of War live service.

Which will see the arrival of new story content, missions, events, and large-scale operations on a regular basis. The following statement from Oskar Gabrielson, General Manager of DICE, was released alongside word of the delay.

Today, we’re announcing that Battlefield V will have a new launch date – November 20, 2018. I wanted to give you a little bit of insight into how we arrived at this new date.

Over the summer, we’ve had tens of thousands of players get their hands on the game during our Closed Alphas and at E3 and Gamescom – where we were honored to receive the awards for Best Multiplayer Game at both shows.

You have told us that you are seeing an increased focus on squad play come through, you are also feeling the difference in our revamped player movement and we are getting a lot of positive feedback for our improved weapons handling.
You’ve also spurred us to make some meaningful improvements to the core gameplay experience, including adjusting the gameplay tempo, improving soldier visibility and reducing player friction. You’ll see a lot of these reflected in our Open Beta that starts on September 6.

We believe we have one of the best Battlefield games ever on our hands. A game that will deliver on an emotional journey through the return of unseen single player War Stories, a deep multiplayer experience, Battle Royale, along with our new live service, Tides of War – a journey across multiple theaters of WW2 and designed to keep our community together.

With the Open Beta just around the corner, we are excited about the millions of you who will join us and experience the game. And we fully expect to see even more feedback coming our way.

And that’s why we’re moving our launch date. We’re going to take the time to continue to make some final adjustments to core gameplay, and to ensure we really deliver on the potential of Tides of War.

We know moving the launch date means that we all have to wait a little longer. But we’re going to take our time to make sure we get it right.

Thank you for your continued passion and support. We can’t wait to see you on the battlefield in just a few days.

Good to hear that it won't affect the current beta plans which are still on track to kick off next week. Aside from the official response above, there is a vocal contingent within the community pointing to recent revelations that Battlefield V pre-orders were far lower than expected - sparking a rethink of the marketing campaign. With the direct result of that being a new release date. In terms of direct outcome from this delay, which is also quite rare to happen so late into the year, EA share prices fell by nearly 10 percent.

A nice little teaser at the end of what is an impressive looking trailer of Battlefield V's World War II action showcases what many believe is the first look at the game's upcoming Battle Royale-inspired mode. Where it seems a large ring of fire slowly shrinks the map-size - constraining fighters and vehicles to a small village square.

As to whether or not we'll get to see the mode in action at Gamescom next week, we hope so. But regardless of that, Battlefield V is shaping up to be a visually stunning shooter.

Here's the full 'Devastation of Rotterdam' trailer.



Also, great choice of music too.

Which is all a mouthful to take in, but hey, this is EA, right? After a pretty lite-on E3 showing, the company also just had its Q1 earnings call, which Gamesindustry.biz has covered in detail but specifically talks to the publishing giant looking to Fortnite's success and to also work to model that success through cross-platform play.

So we've abridged the deeper information for you below:

• VP of Investor Relations for EA, Chris Evenden believes that in "three to five years" most games will exist in the cloud making cross-platform play more manageable.
  
• EA reiterated during the call that Battlefield V's Battle Royale mode was just that: just another game "mode".
  
• EA is looking into which franchises would work with cross-platform play, presumably their sports frachises, Battlefield and the forthcoming Anthem.
  
• However, this looks to be compartmentalised between what can work with mobile to PC to console (such as the Fortnite model), and what wouldn't work with that model, also presumably the above mentioned Battlefield and Anthem franchises.
  
• EA is also "interested in experimenting" with a standalone free-to-play release in a more core genre, such as shooters, but took Battlefield out of that lean, seemingly stamping it as a traditional premium Triple-A release for the time being.

All interesting topics, but nothing overly alarming in the grand scheme of things. You could likely single out the 'late-to-the-party' business concepts of wanting to mimic Fortnite's success (which we don't wholly know how sustainable that success is going to be moving forward), which is how we kind of wound up with Anthem as a bit of a Destiny clone. And that the notion Destiny is now an entity Bungie is considering moving on from and isn't performing nearly as well as it should, would be potentially a poorer way to go about it. But as we said in the news opener, "hey, this is EA".

Comprised of "in-game footage" and no doubt a few cinematic flourishes at EA Play early this morning we got a good look at Battlefield V's multiplayer in a trailer. From a visual standpoint it's definitely impressive stuff. From the new destruction model that means tanks can level houses and buildings through to new climbing and diving through window abilities.

Plus, being able to tow mobile artillery and larger guns.



A closer look at the new single-player War Stories is expected at the Xbox Briefing early tomorrow.

Finally, thanks to NVIDIA we've also got the following high-end PC demo of Battlefield V multiplayer Grand Operations - running on a GeForce GTX 1080 Ti. Where we learn that thanks to the new epic destruction there's also a fortification mechanic to create some form of defense.



That and it will look incredible on a high-end rig.

After the reveal of Battlefield 1, certain pockets of the internet got a little upset over the fact that the game featured people of colour. Cut to the release of Battlefield 1 DLC featuring a female fighter on its cover-art and the (most likely) same group got upset, again. Historical accuracy was the cry. As so once again, the perceived backlash was brought to the fore when the main art for the recently revealed Battlefield V showcased a female resistance fighter.

Apparently this is upsetting to some.



And so Oskar Gabrielson, the GM at DICE took to Twitter to double down on the studio's choices, and the fact that Battlefield is traditionally about fun first and foremost. Starting with, "First, let me be clear about one thing. Player choice and female playable characters are here to stay." Adding, "Our commitment as a studio is to do everything we can to create games that are inclusive and diverse. We always set out to push boundaries and deliver unexpected experiences. But above all, our games fun!"

The Battlefield sandbox has always been about playing the way you want. Like attempting to fit three players on a galloping horse, with flamethrowers. With BFV you also get the chance to play as who you want. This is #everyonesbattlefield. pic.twitter.com/jZkzSRjIwL

— Oskar Gabrielson (@ogabrielson) May 25, 2018

If historical accuracy is the basis for criticising what we've seen of Battlefield V so far, then that's a valid stance to take - if one is so inclined. But only to a certain degree, and one that usually falls apart when cinematic ambition and fun sandbox shooting are the focus of an experience.

Recently our very own Seamus Mullins attended the world-wide reveal of Battlefield V (or 5) in London. Where we not only got confirmation that the new setting would be a return to the series' WWII roots but that big changes were coming across the board. From co-op to Grand Operations to revamped squad mechanics and yes, no more Season Pass map packs, it's hard not to get excited.

So why not pour a coffee, sit back, and enjoy this massive in-depth preview on why Battlefield V is shaping up to be something special.

When considering what would be the focus for the next entry in the famous shooter series in the lead up to the reveal of Battlefield V, I all but assumed that the setting would be World War II (confirmed earlier this week). But also, that DICE’s focus would be placed on bigger and grander multiplayer modes, and new royale opportunities to take Battlefield to the Next Level. Presuming said changes would relate more in terms of action and explosive set pieces that look good in a trailer; rather than fixing the issues which have plagued the series for years and many entries. Although these assumptions were still correct to a degree, we are literally getting a new multiplayer mode called ‘Grand Operations’, DICE surprised many of us at the recent worldwide reveal in London, by announcing several changes and additions focused and dedicated to finally fixing these long term niggling problems, coming in Battlefield V.

Click Here to Read Our In-Depth Battlefield V Preview