EA Plans More ‘Hands-On Opportunities’ for ‘Battlefield 5’ Prior to Launch

By Brian Crecente

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The closed alpha for Electronic Arts published and DICE developed “Battlefield 5” was so positive that the company said Thursday it’s planning more “hands-on opportunities” for the game before it launches on Oct. 19.

“The ‘Battlefield 5’ beta results exceeded our expectations,” said EA CEO Andrew Wilson during the Thursday financial call. “The feedback was highly positive with players able to feel the advancements that DICE has focused on for the gameplay. This type of early play opportunity is now foundational to our development process.

“We are planning more hands-on opportunity for ‘Battlefield 5’ prior to launch.”

The alpha for “Battlefield 5” ran in the end of June and Wilson said during Thursday’s call that it had three times the number of planned participants. While EA has said that it will be hosting a September beta for the game, Wilson’s comments Thursday makes it sound like there may be more than one.

Following the alpha, the developers outlined all of the lessons learned from the data they pulled while people played through two of the game’s modes on one of its maps.

EA officials also noted during the call that the paid-for subscription service Origin Access Premier would be going live on July 30 . People who pay for the service will be able to start playing “Battlefield 5” on Oct. 11, more than a week early.