You may have noticed the backlash to Battlefield V regarding the game's inclusion of women. Using the hashtag #NotMyBattlefield, passionate fans have been making their distaste for this abundantly clear, calling it "historically inaccurate". EA has now made its stance on the matter in an interview with Gamasutra at E3 2018.
Patrick Södurland, chief creative officer of Electronic Arts, said that including women in the game was "something that the development team pushed", and clarified the integral role that women played in WWII. "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."
When questioned about the naysayers in particular, Södurland said: "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]."
He continued: "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."
Hopefully this puts an end to all the nonsense.
[source gamasutra.com, via theverge.com, resetera.com]
Comments 91
Wish they had been as outspoken last year, too, but with the issue notably more important (and audience reactions notably more fanbrained), it's still good that they are now.
I may not agree with most business practices of EA, but I'm with them on this one. It's just a game. It's not like in actual war there are people going all Rambo, killings tens of people, jumping from a plane like nothing has happened and being revived when they are blown to pieces by a grenade or something.
I first read the title without the "Against" and it read really differently. It's better with it.
"Hopefully this puts an end to all the nonsense."
You must be new to the internet.
Are people really that stupid that can't be bothered to google search the tons of women that fought at WWII?
FFS sometimes I hate the gaming community
Bravo EA (for once)!
EA giving the middle finger? But that happens all the time
Kind of the same people in the youtube comments boycotting The Last of Us because they have repressed homosexual tendencies and can't stand seeing Ellie being proud of it.
If they want to tell the stories of what heroines did in the war, that's great. But it's not sexist to point out that women did not fight on the front line in WW2.
@rjejr Hey, I said hopefully. I know it won't put an end to anything.
Good on EA.
Didn't these people.learn that last year when Sledgehammer said the same thing to these people when they cried about it last year with CoD:WWII?
We've got two factions of idiots right now that are the problem. Extremes on both ends. There's a group (which has always existed) that wants games like GTA or Yakuza which are clearly geared towards 14-18 year old males with a lot of their themes to go away and then there's the paranoid group that thinks these games will go away (despite GTA being the best selling game ever, I think) so they lash out at whatever they assume has an 'agenda' behind it and that means any game with a woman in it is a target. It's stupid but it's not going anywhere and with social media it's only going to get worse.
It's funny. One of the top snipers with 309 kills in WW II was a woman.
when it comes to games (film and TV too) the gender of the character isn't important to me and long as what i'm playing (or watching) is fun
now when given the choice if the game has character creator i will make a male character because i like to try and make myself in the games in can do that in (or as close as i can) but i'm sure most people try to do that anyway
point is that's it's a game so for one even if women never fought in WWII (which they did by the way) it doesn't have to be historically accurate with it's story or characters
@Quintumply Even the word hopeless is not devoid of hope.
@Totaldude911
That whole 'controversy' around Ellie being a lesbian is even more stupid than this considering people have known about this back in 2013 when The Left Behind DLC was released. I'm so tired of people being imbeciles. Don't like it, don't buy it is a concept everybody needs to adopt. The calling for other people to help boycott stuff, however, is utter nonsense.
Respect
Girl power!
@FullbringIchigo "now when given the choice if the game has character creator i will make a male character"
Same here. The only time created a female character was for Destiny, when I decided re-roll my Warlock class because I wasn't a fan of how the armors looked on a male avatar.
@WanderingBullet i made a female Saiyan in Dragon Ball XenoVerse 2 but that's because i made a male in XV1 and i wanted the character in 2 to be different
besides they are faster then the male characters, it helps in battles
@Gamer83 that's one of the huge problems with the internet and the social media movement, it's given people a platform to say and do what they want with no consequence, so every little thing they don't like get's blown out of proportion and becomes much more of a problem than it should be
i'm not saying Social Media can't be used for good things but most of the time it's not
@FullbringIchigo
100% agreed.
Too bad this won't stop the complaining.
Oh well. It'll eventually stop.
@LaNooch1978
That screams cheap clicks though. Not saying you're wrong, but I'd be disappointed if Naughty Dog did that because ND games just like Nintendo and Rockstar games are some of the few that get 1 million views on youtube about an hour so after being announced.
@Deadlyblack hey people are still moaning about Doctor Who and that announcement was over a year ago
hell people are still moaning about the cast of that last Ghostbusters film (although it was a pretty bad movie)
@Gamer83 Fortunately it is just a very, very vocal minority on both ends of the spectrum. I like to believe (and I think it's true) that the vast majority of people are just normal, reasonable, friendly folks.
@AFCC That isn't the issue. There were, the Russian army had quite a lot of women. There were women in resistance groups as well. British army employed women too. The only issue I can see from a historically accurate point of view is that the British army didn't allow women on the front line, but that's what the trailer showed.
But there's katanas too apparently, and people with prosthetics handling a gun like that? And being allowed in the army? I don't think that's a likely, or even possible scenario. So yeah, it's not like the game is historically accurate to begin with.
@FullbringIchigo That's a good point.
Welp.
@get2sammyb
I think it is that way. Most of us just like what we like. That's why I laugh when both groups see a game or movie do well and then claim a victory for their side. End of the day, we all have different tastes. Besides, most success stories come down to how well the product, whatever it is, is marketed.
Well I for one think it is ridiculous. Having a woman fighting in an over stylized, probably inaccurate WW2 game is just another example of the SJW agenda seeping into popular culture. The same goes for TLOU - there would be absolutely no immune teenage girls looking for rebel terrorists in a post apocalyptic world. Has anyone ever heard of a female robot in the far future fighting other robots through multiple playthroughs? Don't get me started on Bioshock Infinite - as if there were any women in the early 1900's who could open tears into reality and travel through them to right the wrongs of their fathers. #notmygaming industry
@LaNooch1978
You may be right. That's an impressive number either way.
I bet they're just glad all the controversy is distracting from their awful business practices.
@Rudy_Manchego
After answer like this I definitely won't be buying the game then (Lmao who am I kidding I wouldn't buy this trash if my life depended on it women or no women in it even more so with so many games coming this fall)
I bet the people complaining have probably never had a woman.
@ApostateMage or the only one they ever talked to is their mum
@FullbringIchigo Oh boy - my sarcasm skills are way off if you thought I was being serious
@Rudy_Manchego well i was just making sure you was covered in case someone got the wrong idea
you know it will happen
@LaNooch1978 @Gamer83 I think TLOU2 trailer was more about who Ellie is as a character and the shock value--not of her kissing another woman--but jumping from that tender moment into knife stabs in the neck of her enemy. Because, really, in today's world if someone is all bothered about two gals kissing they are in for some serious waking up. The world has changed. It's still not always safe for LGBTQ, but it's changed a lot just from 10-15 years ago and it's not slowing down. They're just internet trolls. And I think it says a lot about ND's stand on the issue (and the clicks don't hurt)
Yeah, people, it’s a game. Chill.
Sheesh, these people must have not seen the musical “Hamilton.”
EA could capitalize on the outcry and do an educational mode in the game like Assassin’s Creed Origins did to help bring awareness to the women who did sacrifice and fight in the war.
I'm very, very impressed with this comments section (unlike the one on PC Gamer's website...probably 90% of the people on there are insanely angry about EA giving people the OPTION to play as a woman, LMAO). You guys are awesome.
@Octane sure but people complain most about women! Besides the devs never said this would be historically accurate!
This to me is just like the fact that Ellie is a lesbian...what's the problem? It's a kiss...it's 2018, come on...
"EA gives the middle finger to those..."
I'm getting tired of these clickbait titles. Are we really that sensitive that we see "either accept it or don't buy the game. I'm fine with either or" as the middle finger?
We tend to attack other gamers, but video game journalists sure aren't helping.
Good on them for not dealing with those people.
@Incognito_D what's a frontline in a battlefield mp game where we have 0 war tactics whatsoever and everyone just runs around doing whatever they want...right?
@starhops
That's the way I viewed it. I never put anything past a company but Naughty Dog games always get clicks, don't need to resort to cheap tactics. It's part of her character and relationship building is part of story-heavy games so not surprising to see it there. Bottomline, seems like no matter what this game does, it's going to be a magnet for controversy. Still going to sell extremely well and I'm very hyped for it. Too bad it's far off (no way it releases before Fall 2019, imo).
The image reminds me of the cover art for Medal of Honour Underground, which featured the female protagonist who was based on a real life resistance fighter named Helen Deschamps. Great game, like I'm sure Battlefield V will be. Point is, it is historically accurate to a degree but who cares when you can play as a total badass heroine!
Good for EA on that.
Credit where credit is due, well done to them for taking a stand against hate, discrimination and bigotry.
@AFCC I'm not sure why anyone would complain about that since The Last of Us DLC is a thing. They're five years late
But that's beside the point. Maybe it's in the wording of EA... (just playing Devil's advocate here before everyone jumps on me ) By saying ''they were women in WW2'', it seems like they're implying that what they are doing is historically accurate. Like I said, there were plenty of women in WW2, but not in the front line in the British army. If they just said ''this is our interpretation of WW2'' or ''this game isn't historically accurate'', it would've gotten the point across a lot better I think. And that would've covered the rest of the issues with have with the trailer.
Can't believe you went with 'middle finger' and didn't attempt some kind of V sign pun.
It's always the same people doing the complaining, they post anywhere they can using different names; Youtube, Twitter, Twitch, Steam and so on. It gives others the impression they are many, when they are not. They are a tiny but very vocal minority.
People making a big issue about realism in this matter are using it as way to hide their bigotry, they don't actually care about realism, they are lonely 14-year old boys who don't like having women in traditionally male roles.
Now I don't want to start a PC-console thing, but I think most of these people are PC gamers. They have the same extremist attitude as the Masterrace folk. It can't be a coincident. Some of them even seem to pose as Playstation gamers, which is insulting.
"It's historically inaccurate" cry the greasy manchildren as they run around in CoD like a headless chicken no-scoping people with sniper rifles.
@Gamer83 I get your point, I really do. Not an issue.
I don't agree with pairing Yakuza alongside GTA. The average GTA fan would never touch a game as "foreign" and alien as Yakuza. Even Sleeping Dogs was a hard sell despite it having English voicecasting and an American protagonist. Yakuza has far more cultural depth and scope than a GTA game. In my experience the non-Japanese gamers who enjoy playing Yakuza games are actually interested in other cultures, especially the Japanese one, it's a personal characteristic I don't associate with the average GTA fan.
@DLB3 To be honest, the UK's about on par.
Women did loads in the World War. They probably started it. Hitlers wife was goading him on. Churchills wife wrote all his speeches and Cleopatra came down with her cat Aliens and battered the men. Spice Girls for life.
As for the lesbian kiss, I wasnt shocked by that - but similar to any kissing scene I was like yuk, get a room. Whatever you your sexual orientation its cool, as long as its not Animals, kids or Hoovers your 👌
I'm applauding an EA executive... it's 2018 and I'm applauding an EA executive, what next? Peace with North Korea?!
Correct, in non combatant roles.
I'll take "Stupid Controversies" for $500, Alex!
It's just a video game it doesn't have to be accurate and it's not even controversial like the kiss on the last of us I didn't know Ellie was lesbian when was that hinted now that was made to create attention and controversy
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi that's patently not true. Women served in the Italian anti fascist resistance.. Russian women fought alongside men in anti aircraft guns aswell as flying bombers.
There's plenty of other cases of women in active combat in ww2.
@Pink_Floyd Yeah i did see that on Google. But what is wrong with ladies in the game anyway people should lighten up.
@solocapers yes it is, 99.9% of all front line soldiers were Men, a miniscule amount of Female combatants did exist (negligible), the resistance is something else entirely and the vast majority of Women were in support roles
Stories are very powerful, and the erasure of women from history has been extremely damaging. Something like WW2 affected and still affects all of humanity, so all WW2 stories, especially those that are rarely told, are historically valid and important to tell. So great job DICE!
However, it can be dangerous to rewrite history for our own benefit. You can also look at these BF5 images, at least the multiplayer, as an erasure of the Allies' sins. Inaccurately portraying the Allied armies as inclusive and egalitarian might be just as dangerous. Easy example, the US Army segregated soldiers based on their "race." This is very important history to remember.
I guess I'm saying it's dangerous to treat WW2 like Star Wars.
But honestly, I'm really excited for this game, yay the hypocrisy of life!!!
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi regardless of the percentage of combat fighters some were women so they can and should be in the game. Are you saying because the amount of women fighters was low they should be erased totally from the game?
The only people caring are redpillers who are behind their veil of historical correctness are so insecure with themselves that they are just scared of women having any role apart from being eye candy and baby makers.
@Incognito_D Women did fight on the front line. American women were not permitted to but other countries allowed it. Please research things before you make such bold false statements.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_World_War_II
Way to completely misrepresent why many gamers are upset with this game.
Hint it isn't because a woman is in it. Many fought and died in WW2(as well as a unfathomable amount of Civilians). On the western side almost all in non-combat roles. There were of course french, polish, and other resistance fighters and Soviet female soldiers on the front lines.
Now is that what BFV depicts? No. It shows a british woman with a prosthetic arm in frontline combat. It's pure goofiness.
@solocapers The game is obviously completely fictional. It might as well not be WW2 at all.
@BattleofCrete194 it's not a ww2 documentary so wind your neck in.
I don't like how they're doubling and going on about all this, but I didn't care about it when they showed women. It feels like they're just trying to push an agenda; they should have just ignored the ignorant people that felt outraged instead of contributing to the internet positive feedback loop.
The game looked really ridiculous at that first trailer, but I thought it looked like it could be pretty fun. However, most Battlefield fans like that game because it attempts to be more grounded and immersive than other games in it's genre.
EA is jumping on trends. Whether it's the forced diversity 'attack the fans' trend that's killing the comics industry, or the Battle Royale trend. They're industry trend followers.
Let's see if it affects their bottom line. It probably won't, it's a crowded year, so you never really know for sure.
Never change gaming community...
@Bonbonetti You're correct.
It's a game for crying out loud! Does passionate fans or fanboys always = idiocy/ownership/kiddie tantrums nowadays!? I'm with EA on this one (thumbs up dudes).
@themcnoisy
This reminds me of that Curb Your Enthusiasm kissing scene.
https://youtu.be/pu1SY9jRwjw
"You're allowed to be happy just not in front of me."
What's all this I'm reading about chicks kissing chicks??
@Flaming_Kaiser I know, I think it's funny watching people complain about such trivial matters.
Did the game claim to be historically accurate? If yes it bothers me a little as those with lost limbs got shipped home, units were racially segregated, lots to nit pick. If no I don't care.
I actually really liked the mission in COD:WW2 where you were a french resistance woman infiltrating a German base, it was one of the only things that were not trash in the campaign.
I almost only create female characters in games because I really find them more stylish.
But I truly believe that there where no british women with prosthetic arms fighting in WWII.
And by what I know, Battlefield has always had a realistic approach to war, but the trailer of this game looks just like a hero shooter to me.
Funny how this topic came up while my grandfather was visiting. He was a tank gunner and was there for D-Day in Normandy (until today, all he ever said of the war was that he was there). For the second bit of information he has ever given, after reading over my shoulder of the topic at hand, he said that during his time there, there were never any women on the front lines where he was on either side that he saw. I tried to press for more info, but he just walked away and dropped the subject.
Personally I don't care about it in general, but it does annoy me because I get the feeling EA did this solely because of the current whining (on all sides) of "gender equality", which in itself only seems partial when it suits whatever party involved. While it is "just a game", fine, but do not claim historical accuracies if changes are made to suit current era topics/trends..... Speaking generally here, not about this game specifically.
rather buy this game than buy a game that ditched the offline mode
This is the first time ever that I'm applauding EA. Since when has Battlefield ever claimed to be historically accurate, anyway? It's a bloody game. Grow the f*** up!
@Octane I think they are just trying to say that if people are complaining about historical accuracy then they are focusing on the wrong subject, since women are, in fact, accurate! Also some of the outfits and face paints seem stupid but they actually happened! Gamers are becoming crybabies, I'm glad here at Push we don't see people like that often
Also I thought it was known fact that Elie was a lesbian but I guess no...judging by the tons of idiots we see!
@AFCC Well, yeah, but highly dependent on context, that's the difference I think. What we've seen in the trailer wouldn't have happened in real life. Like the entire British army with blue face paint? Nah, that's pure fantasy
Well, I don't know. I haven't heard many people complain about that (not back when the DLC came out, nor after the E3 trailer). But maybe that's because Neil Druckmann is kinda known for pushing his own ideas into his games. So it's easy to correlate the two. Which is kinda ironic, because a lot of people complained about the violence against women in the trailer from last year. Catch-22 I guess
Wow. Great response from EA. I hate them a little less now.
humans...
@Neolit I realize that. Was merely relaying what he said. Was told that he was out there for quite some time after that bloody day. But as I said, I did try to get more info out of him, but with no luck.
It's a cold day in hell when EA has to be the voice of reason for this topic.
@Neolit oh don't take me wrong...shocked is one thing that can most certainly happen and it's fine! But saying they won't buy the game etc etc is just too much...
The main role women played in WW2 was not in the front lines but on the home front. Yes there were female combatants like resistance fighters, snipers such as Lyudmila Pavlichenko and Soviet bomber regiment 588 (Night Witches).
But by putting women in situations they were blatantly not in, it not only makes the game unnecessarily historically innaccurate, it doesn't do any service to the women who did fight and die in WW2. And putting one of these EA made women on the box art, is just adding oil to the fire.
If you're desperate to include a woman character for diversity, just have a character from one of those scenarios I listed, even COD this right. Granted it's unlikely because main characters need to be American because game devs like to suck up to America and forget that there are other countries.
@Octane sure, I understand, but you gotta be realistic and realize that if players have the option in MP to use face camo then probaby everyone will! Also...it's a game...honestly if you try to be 100% accurate you will fail anyway cause there is always something you need to "dream" since the war wasn't filmed 24/7.
Violence is violence...be it against man or women, right? So I think people have the wrong idea...
And you missed people saying they wouldn't buy the game cause Elie is a lesbian?
@AFCC Nah, I think that came from certain corners of the web that are always the loudest when people yell ''equality!''. But then this trailer supposedly promoting violence against women. Oh well, I realise they're a minority, a loud one, but a minority. Like I said, catch 22! No matter what you do, some people will always find a way to complain!
And yeah, I guess I kinda missed that. I don't really read YouTube comments, so all I get to see is the posts here on PushSquare (and NintendoLife). I don't go to IGN, or Kotaku, or any of those sites.
@Octane Either way it's a shame we have to see people like that
Tap here to load 91 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...