After almost two years of monthly updates, the time has come to bid farewell to Battlefield 1. Well, it’s not like you have to stop playing it. It’s just that DICE has announced it will stop supporting the game in June.
In a post on the Battlefield 1 blog, Jonas Elfving of DICE explains the latest updates coming to the game. He then drops a little bit at the end announcing June as the end of monthly updates. The game released in October of 2016, so for those counting that’s 20 months worth of updates. It’s certainly been a good run, and now it’s ending just in time for a new Battlefield announcement at E3.
The last bits of content start in May, when DICE opens up maps set in France for all players who own the game, even those who didn’t pay for extra DLC. As a bonus, all players will receive the Rupture map, a poppy-filled set of French farmlands and wartime wreckage, for free immediately.
In June, DICE will ring in the finale of the game’s support with a new mode. Called Shock Operations, this battle will have up to 40 players fighting over smaller pieces of territory in alternating roles of attacker and defender. This is basically the popular Operations mode already in the game. The “Shock” part comes from the fact that these battles will only take place on one map. It’s being touted as the quicker alternative for those who don’t have time to commit to a full-on Operation.
Shock Operations will happen on five maps: Giant’s Shadow, Prise de Tahure, Lupkow Pass, Zeebrugge, and River Somme. As another gift to players, DICE is making these maps free to all for Shock Operations. But just for Shock Operations. Players will still have to buy the Premium Pass or standalone DLC packs to have those maps in all modes.
There’s not much else to say on this one. With the prevalence of battle royale games and E3 coming up, it only makes sense for DICE to end Battlefield 1 support at this time. No doubt the next game in the franchise will be announced soon. And there are already rumors about Battlefield jumping into the battle royale ring…