Battlefield 1 will be announcing esports-focused game modes at this year’s gamescom. This information comes from an earnings call EA held with investors on July 27, transcripts courtesy of Seeking Alpha.
While more specific details about the modes will be made public at gamescom, we do know these modes are probably going to be smaller experiences than the massive 64-person battles found in Battlefield games.
The new game modes were originally teased by Andrew Wilson, CEO of EA. “At gamescom, we'll debut a new way to play Battlefield 1 built for competition and designed with direct input from our Battlefield community,” he said in the call.
This was later followed up with comments from Blake Jorgensen, EA’s CFO. When answering a question about the future of Battlefield 1, Jorgensen said “Andrew mentioned that at gamescom in a few weeks, we're going to introduce a new esports mode to Battlefield.”
“People have used Battlefield as an esports product for many years outside of EA. It's a fun fast-paced game,” said Jorgensen. “But with 64-player, multiplayer, it's a bit hectic and chaotic for esports. And so you'll see some new modes coming out that will benefit a more rational esports approach, and pretty exciting for us for this year and really powering next year and the year after off of that title.”
Seeing as how Jorgensen specifically mentioned large battles as a hindrance to esports, it seems probable these new game modes will be smaller competitions on smaller maps. It’s likely EA isn’t going to be making any more public statements until gamescom toward the end of August, so we’ll probably have to wait until then to learn more about these new modes.
So what do you think? Are you interested in seeing what DICE can do to make Battlefield 1 more esports-friendly? Do you think Battlefield 1 would even make for a good esport? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
