Good news for fans of the series, as it has been reportedly revealed that Battlefield 5 will have no loot boxes whatsoever. This was revealed by an official EA representative, noting that players will not have to worry about any form of loot box being sold inside the contents of the upcoming World War 2-themed first-person shooter. The news of Battlefield 5 containing no loot boxes at all comes by way of Kotaku who asked that very important question shortly following the game’s unveiling.
This is both fantastic news and contrary to a previous report that stated that the game would have some loot boxes, but only cosmetic ones that affected appearances and nothing related to gameplay. It seems that that decision was reversed in the months since that initial report. Apparently, that Battlefield 5 report was prematurely released as confirmed by Kotaku’s Jason Schreier.
The EA representative told Schreier that at that time, a “decision had not yet been made” and that fans can rest assured that “there are no loot boxes” in the game at all, cosmetic or not. It seems plausible that the backlash that EA and Battlefield 5 developer DICE faced from last year’s controversial Star Wars Battlefront 2 is at the heart of this decision to avoid loot boxes entirely.
Not only did the Star Wars Battlefront 2 debacle result in no loot boxes in Battlefield 5, but it has affected the Season Pass or Premium Pass that has been heavily prominent in previous entries in the Battlefield series as noted in our recent news piece about the game’s unveiling.
Battlefield 5 will be taking players to World War 2, following up on the World War 1 setting of the most recent game in the series, Battlefield 1. For more on the game’s release date this year and details on gameplay, check out our full breakdown of the initial Battlefield 5 reveal trailer here.