Battlefield V looks to mix things up a little when compared to previous entries in the series, with the Fortnite-esque building tool chief among the gameplay changes coming to DICE's upcoming WW2 shooter. While changes to key mechanics have prompted a reaction from the wider community, one has provoked a stronger response in certain quarters.
We're specifically referring to the inclusion of female characters in the game, which some people have objected to vociferously despite the fact there were plenty of brave female soldiers fighting during the war.
While there are the usual toxic and sexist comments you'd expect around a conversation such as this, some responses were more restrained and reasoned, with one game critic suggesting that the series had abandoned accuracy in favour of political correctness.
In regards to that claim Battlefield's executive producer Aleksander Grøndal responded on Twitter saying: "We will always put fun over authentic," later adding that "this is what we have always done with Battlefield games."
Over on the game's official Twitter account there were further responses to disgruntled fans, including this short tweet/statement:
We wanted to empower player choice, diversity and inclusion, so our players can fully customize the way that they want their soldiers look and play. With that, there are a plethora of customization options for your soldiers including body types, gender, war paints and more.
It seems as though some people are upset that a heavily-customised (and therefore not very realistic) female soldier might be fighting with or against them in the game, with some suggesting that it's an insult to those who died in the war. How they can reconcile that position while also playing historically-themed war games for fun is a mystery to us, but we digress...
With Grøndal's insistence that the studio is going to carry on leaning towards fun over authenticity, it seems as though those fringe voices are going to have to live with the disappointment of Battlefield V's approach to diversity and inclusion. For more on the rest of the changes coming to this year's entry in the series head this way.