EA's decision to include women in the upcoming Second World War FPS Battlefield 5 has generated a lot of heat. A particular focus of complaints is on the perceived historical inaccuracy of having women on the front lines outside of a few select theaters, which is not a stable foundation for an argument. EA is having none of it. Patrick Soderlund, EA's chief creative officer, told Gamasutra that the development team "pushed" for the inclusion of playable women in the game, adding that despite the common perception, "there were a ton of women" who fought in the war. He also emphasized that Battlefield 5 is not a history lesson: It's a videogame that's going to be played by a diverse audience living in a diverse world. Read more: Battlefield 5 review "We felt like in today's world—I have a 13-year-old daughter that when the trailer came out and she saw all the flak, she asked me, 'Dad, why's this happening?'" Soderlund said. "She plays Fortnite, and says, 'I can be a girl in Fortnite. Why are people so upset about this?' She looked at me and she couldn't understand it. And I'm like, OK, as a parent, how the hell am I gonna respond to this? And I just said, 'You know what? You're right. This is not OK.'" "These are people who are uneducated—they don't understand that this is a plausible scenario. And listen: this is a game. And today gaming is gender-diverse, like it hasn't been before. There are a lot of female people who want to play, and male players who want to play as a badass [woman]." It's a little disingenuous of EA to talk about authenticity and believability and taking a "true journey through World War 2" while simultaneously giving us this wacky romp of a trailer. But that doesn't extend to bellowing about the inclusion of diverse playable characters, and I very much respect his willingness to draw a line in the sand on it. "We don't take any flak. We stand up for the cause, because I think those people who don't understand it, well, you have two choices: either accept it or don't buy the game," Soderlund said. "I'm fine with either or." Battlefield 5 comes out on October 19, or a few days earlier if you go for the deluxe edition or subscribe to Origin Access. Here's everything we know about it so far.<doc-sep>EA When Electronic Arts revealed the teaser trailer for its new Battlefield game for the first time, it was probably hoping to spark a wave of hype across an excited fanbase. Instead, it found itself facing an outraged backlash that spread like wildfire. It didn't take long before the #notmybattlefield hashtag was trending on Twitter, and a vocal minority of fans were demanding change. The problem? There were too many women in the Battlefield 5 trailer. The initial backlash was laced with cries for historical accuracy, but EA's chief creative officer, Patrick Soderlund, says this gets the facts wrong. "These are people who are uneducated -- they don't understand that this is a plausible scenario," he told Gamasutra in a recent interview. "The common perception is that there were no women in World War II. There were a ton of women who both fought in World War II and partook in the war." It's true -- there's a rich history of women fighting in the Second World War, from Russian sniper teams to the French Resistance. Even if it wasn't a historical fact, Soderlund seems to argue that it would hardly matter. "Listen," he says. "This is a game. And today gaming is gender-diverse." Soderlund says his team stands by their choice, and won't "take any flak" for the decision to include women in the game. As for the game's detractors? "Well," he says, "you have two choices: either accept it, or don't buy the game. I'm fine with either/or." It's not the first time EA has addressed the backlash, either. Last month, EA's Osakr Gabrielson made the company's position clear: "Player choice and female playable characters are here to stay." Now playing: Watch this: Microsoft's E3 2018 press conference focused on the games,... E3 2018 coverage at GameSpot: Wall-to-wall coverage of the show from our sister site, GameSpot. E3 2018 coverage at Giant Bomb: Still more commentary and news from E3, from our colleagues at Giant Bomb.<doc-sep>You can add Battlefield 5’s subreddit to the chorus of voices no longer interested in deflection arguments about historical accuracy, or which question the presence of playable women characters in the World War II game. “Sadly this subreddit has proven to be unable to have a civil discussion about these things without devolving into name calling and slapfights,” moderators wrote in a post that went up overnight. They pointed out that some players had legitimate criticisms about customization options, but their remarks are then hijacked by thinly-veiled trolling complaints that resent the game’s diversity and inclusion of women and others. “We’re done wasting our time on this, every point has been made, no you’re not sexists or whatever, but this shit is just repetitive now,” moderators said. “It’s a game, not a history book,” they wrote in the headline post declaring that people who continue to argue this point will face moderation. Some readers complained of being censored or having normal discussion chilled because of the ugly behavior of a minority of miscreants. “They never said ‘no more criticisms of any aspect of the game,’” replied one. “They said no more bitching about ‘inaccuracy.’” “We’ve never been brigaded more than we have in the past months,” administrators wrote, referencing mass commenting behavior, mainly coming from people with no interest in the subreddit community. “Admins can only keep up with so much.” Earlier this week, Patrick Soderlund, Electronic Arts’ chief creative officer, signaled that the publisher has officially had it with questions about its staff’s creative choices on the shooter, too. “You have two choices: either accept it or don’t buy the game,” he told Gamasutra. “I’m fine with either or. It’s just not ok,” he said. Battlefield 5 debuted in a special event on May 23. In that day’s live stream, Electronic Arts touted a wide range of customization options for the player character, including race and gender options. In the days immediately after, the Gamergate contingent of video game enthusiasts complained that these options represented either insincere pandering or an attempt to enforce social engineering on conservative-minded gamers. “Player choice and female playable characters are here to stay,” Oskar Gabrielson, EA DICE’s general manager, said in reply, sending the message that after four years of hearing these kinds of complaints, most people who make and enjoy video games simply don’t care for them. Evidently, their peers in their own social media communities are tiring as well.<doc-sep>
EA’s chief design officer Patrick Soderlund says Battlefield 5 is the game DICE wanted to make, full stop. Have you heard? Battlefield 5 has women-folk in it. Now instead of talking about gameplay, we need to have conversations about troop compositions and historical accuracy in games. Unless you’re Electronic Arts chief design officer Patrick Soderlund, who is far more direct. In short: Battlefield 5 is the game DICE wanted to make. If you don’t like the creative decisions that went into the game, you don’t have to buy it. “This is something that the development team pushed,” Soderlund told Gamasutra during an E3 interview. “Battlefield 5 is a lot about the unseen, the untold, the unplayed … The common perception is that there were no women in World War II. There were a ton of women who both fought in World War II and partook in the war.” After explaining the creative reasoning, Soderlund moved into personal examples. “I have a 13-year-old daughter that when the trailer came out and she saw all the flak, she asked me, ‘Dad, why’s this happening? '” he continued. “She plays Fortnite, and says, ‘I can be a girl in Fortnite. Why are people so upset about this?’ … I just said, ‘You know what? You’re right. This is not ok.’ These are people who are uneducated – they don’t understand that this is a plausible scenario. “Listen: this is a game. And today gaming is gender-diverse, like it hasn’t been before. There are a lot of female people who want to play, and male players who want to play as a badass [woman]. And we don’t take any flak. We stand up for the cause, because I think those people who don’t understand it, well, you have two choices: either accept it or don’t buy the game. I’m fine with either or. It’s just not OK.” This is not the first time Electronic Arts has needed to justify DICE’s decision to include women in Battlefield 5, and it probably won’t be the last. That being said, it does sound like Soderlund perhaps a little frustrated about having to answer this specific question instead of, you know, gushing about Battlefield 5. Can you blame him? Battlefield 5 launches for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on October 19, 2018. Keep an eye on our E3 conference time guide for all the upcoming conference times and stay on top of all the big E3 2018 announcements.