Bulkhead Interactive's Battalion 1944 is a WWII shooter that's just entered closed beta, and in a recent interview with Player.One studio lead Joe Brammer talked about plans for the future, including esports, which is something the developer is very much considering.
"People could, in theory, host 50v50 matches. We're not going to stop them," Brammer said when talking about match sizes. "I'm not saying it's going to be an amazing experience you'll want to endure. But people, if you remember, people would play 30v30 [on Shipment] just for fun."
When specifically asked about esports plans though, he said: "We have some massive f***ing plans." The report says that leaderboard rankings will determine qualifiers and rank, but the long-term goal is to create a solid foundation for events Bulkhead can run themselves, or that they can authorise, also providing a structure for others hosting tournaments.
"I'm privileged to have been even approached by some of these companies and for Square Enix to have given us these opportunities. It's kind of a dream come true," Brammer added. "I asked for a really small number, just like 'Give me this money for our prize pool and we'll make a small competitive game.' And they gave us a big prize pool. So I'm super-excited to activate that."
"PlayerUnknown messaged us the other day and just said, 'Great job. People in the office really want codes. Can you hook me up?'" he continued. "A lot of developers used to play Call of Duty 2 and the original game. They're all super-pumped about our game. We have people from EA and DICE saying 'Can you get us some codes?' They're all really supportive of what we're doing, which is really encouraging. We get compared to Call of Duty all the time. Which is terrifying. But also, like, my game is being compared to Call of Duty. I've got a shot at the title here."
Do you think Battalion 1944 has a chance to be a big esport?