Most gamers took the news of Battlefield V's delay as a clear sign of DICE and EA being afraid to take on Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and Red Dead Redemption 2 and it seems that the lack of faith has shown on the financial front as well.
Granted, with all the controversy that went down following the game's , it would've taken some blind bravado to double down and leave Battlefield V's launch date sandwiched between two of the most anticipated games of the year. After all, their earlier foray into the doubling-down territory was by EA's chief creative officer Patrick Soderlund, and we all know how that went.
Bloomberg now reports that "at least nine funds exited their stakes in Electronic Arts" in the period ending with 30 September 2018. At the same time, at least seven hedge funds have reportedly "trimmed their positions" in the company, many of them turning to EA's competition for investment opportunities.
Take-Two Interactive seems to have been the main recipient of EA's financial refugees, attracting investments by at least four hedge funds, Bloomberg's report states. Activision Blizzard saw as much as eight funds reinforcing their stake in the company.
Coincidentally, the company in the same time frame, two months prior to Battlefield V's expected launch, which sure didn't help to instil any confidence in the company's upcoming performance. On the other hand, Soderlund's either-or ultimatum is seen by many as the reason behind Battlefield V's preorders lagging behind those of , so maybe that part is for the best.
Bloomberg's report also states that neither of the aforementioned three has had a great time since the third quarter ended, with EA, Take-Two and Activision's stock dropping by 29, 23 and 38 per cent, respectively.
Dice
As for Battlefield V, the latest reports point to ray tracing performance, or lack thereof, which can shave off as much as from the game's performance. It's been a while since they had to ease off of ray tracing a bit but now it looks like they should've been more generous with their easing off.
You can find Bloomberg's report .
Battlefield V, WWII shooter by DICE and Electronic Arts
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