Developer DICE has promised a lot of things for Battlefield V, but, unfortunately, many of them won’t be available at launch. The missing features include some less-crucial things like vehicle customization and body dragging, as well as some pretty major new modes, like the four-player co-op Combined Arms and Firestorm battle royale.

　　The sheer number of delayed features have led some fans to question why Battlefield V hasn’t been delayed, but DICE live service development director Ryan MacArthur insists all the missing launch content is actually a good thing. If Battlefield V shipped with all its modes and features, we’d simply have too much to play!

　　“Basically, when we look at the live service, we looked at how we want to build the game from a gameplay perspective. We want to make sure that each introduction of new gameplay is able to stand on its own and is able to stand out from everything else in a way that makes players want to focus on it.

　　So we look at things like Firestorm and the Combined Arms co-op experience – putting all of that together, you almost create a world where there are too [many] things to do. We want players to have this – here is the core Battlefield experience, and here’s a co-op experience built off that, and here’s a battle royale experience built off that. Players have things to look forward to and they can spend time with each mode. Otherwise you have a similar thing like with expansions where the playerbase gets fragmented. It sucks all the oxygen out of the room if you put too much in.”

　　Uh…huh. I don’t see this explanation soothing any angry fans. I mean, there is a grain of truth to what MacArthur is saying – if you just dump a pile of modes on players, some may get ignored, and rolling them out slowly will give everything its proper time in the spotlight. But come on, I don’t think anyone really believes DICE didn’t get half their modes ready for launch on purpose. And if this was all intentional, DICE should have been honest about their plans from the get-go.

　　EA and DICE recently revealed their Battlefield V post-launch roadmap, which includes the release of most of the game’s missing features. Vehicle customization will be coming in January, and Combined Arms and Firestorm will arrive sometime in March.

　　Battlefield V storms onto PC, Xbox One, and PS4 on November 20. Those who buy the Deluxe Edition can play 5 days early on November 15, and Origin Access Premier members can start their World War II campaign…today (November 9)!