If the original Battlefield V release plan had gone through, the World War II shooter would have launched last week, but that date was pushed back to November a couple of months ago. Today, EA came forth with the roadmap for the game"s post-launch free live service, Tides of War, and it looks like fans will have a long wait before some popular game modes arrive.
Perhaps the most anticipated mode is Firestorm - Battlefield V"s battle royale venture - which now has a spring 2019 release window, with a March release being the earliest we can expect it. The mode is being co-developed by Criterion Games and DICE, and takes place in the largest Battlefield map ever made.
Leading up to that, however, the live service has several other "chapters" that will begin kicking off two weeks after the game"s launch. Between December and January, DICE will bring in the new War Stories single-player mission "The Last Tiger", along with the Panzerstorm map, a practice range, and vehicle customizations.
Following that, in the January to March timeframe, the studio will implement the four-player Combined Arms cooperative missions, as well as the Rush and Squad Conquest game modes as a callback to previous Battlefield games.
The aforementioned Firestorm battle royale mode is slated to arrive after that chapter of content is out, and will also bring along a new map set in Greece. All of these separate live content chapters will also host weekly events and rewards for players to earn by participating.
It will be interesting to see how the game will fair up against the massive success of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. The Activision game ditched the single-player campaign this year but launched with fully realized battle royale and co-op zombie modes in addition to the usual multiplayer offerings. On EA"s side, however, Battlefield V won"t have a season pass or any paid map packs that can split the player-base.
Battlefield V is slated to launch on November 20 for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. Moreover, subscribers to the new Origin Access Premier program on PC will gain unrestricted access to the title even before the official launch.