Battlefield V preorders are below expectations, but it isn’t going to bomb

Some of the hype around Battlefield V is starting to turn sour. In a note to investors (as The Wall Street Journal spotted), analyst Doug Creutz of investment firm Cowen & Co. said that the game’s preorder numbers were looking weak compared to Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and Red Dead Redemption 2. Then on August 14, former DICE boss and long-time Electronic Arts executive Patrick Söderlund left the publisher. This has caused a lot of speculation among the fan community on forums and YouTube. The assumption is that the World War II shooter is a failure, but sources familiar with Electronic Arts and DICE tell a different story.

Söderlund’s exit had nothing to do with Battlefield V. He had at least one foot out the door for months after spending decades with DICE and then EA.