The Battlefield 5 launch party featured a gigantic screen mocking criticisms of the game and some fans aren’t too happy about it. A handful of images from the Battlefield 5 launch party have been seen online in recent days. The imagery shows a crowd of influencers, media, and developers in front of a screen featuring the hashtag slogan #EveryonesBattlefield. Surrounding the hashtag were a number of messages from fans critical of the game.
You can see a close-up of some of the criticisms highlighted on the screen at the Battlefield 5 launch party. Here is a selection of some of the quotes that ostensibly came from gamers criticizing the game:
- “Genderfield 5!”
- “Feminism Ruins Everything, Feminazies are trying to rewrite history”
- “What the f*** was the developers thinking!”
- “White men! White men! White men!”
- “Did my grandfather storm the beaches of Normandy [for this] s***?”
Several other quotes are there but are unable to be read as the crowd is obscuring the screen. An anonymous source speaking to GameRevolution has confirmed the authenticity of the photos and affirmed that this imagery was indeed shown at the Battlefield 5 launch party.
A cursory view of the #EveryonesBattlefield hashtag on Twitter shows the majority of people criticizing DICE for the imagery seen at the Battlefield 5 launch party. There are a handful of people defending the game and its developers, or even outright praising them for this display at the game’s launch party. Even so, the criticism seems to be largely negative.
Discussion of the event elsewhere is similarly critical. One user discussing the screen on the /r/Battlefield subreddit called it “more hollow corporate [virtue-signaling].” Several others question the wisdom of appearing to attack your fans, especially after the game’s reception hasn’t been the best. Discussion on the official Battlefield forums is slightly more balanced between the two sides of the argument.
“I like it,” one user wrote. “People are upset about this because they don’t like it when a company says **** you back. If this upsets, you, then show it with your money, and time will tell if they made a mistake that can’t be recovered from.”
The beginning days of Battlefield 5 have been a bit shaky, with sales having reportedly been lower than Battlefield 1. In the UK, at least, physical sales were down by 50 percent when compared with the last Battlefield game (via Eurogamer). However, it is unclear how many digital sales the game has achieved, with its appearance on EA’s Origin service also not having been factored into these numbers.
Image credit: Arkaelov on the Battlefield forums
