Free Battlefield 5 DLC Coming Soon, Here's Exactly When

Battlefield V's first free DLC, Chapter 1: Overture, is right around the corner. Developer DICE confirmed on Twitter that, after a short delay, the expansion will arrive on Wednesday, December 5. It was originally targeted to launch a day sooner, but DICE discovered some issues, and as a result, decided to push the release back.

DICE said it was "working around the clock" to fix the issues that caused the delay, though the studio hasn't explained what the problems were in the first place. Whatever the case, the good news is that the delay was a short one. DICE apologised for the extra wait and thanked fans for their patience. "The team agreed it was best for the game's health to hold off and fix the issues," DICE said about the delay.

Chapter 1: Overture is the first instalment in Battlefield V's Tides of War live service element. Whereas previous Battlefield games charged players for extra content, DICE is giving it all away for Battlefield V, and instead selling cosmetic items. Microtransactions are not available in Battlefield V yet, but are presumably going to launch soon.

In a post on Reddit, DICE revealed some key details on Chapter 1: Overture's rollout schedule. It will start to arrive on December 5 at midnight PT, which works out to 3 AM in New York, 8 AM in London, and 6 PM in Sydney. There will be one hour of downtime on each platform as the patch rolls out; here is the schedule:

• PC - Wednesday, Dec 5th at 1am PT / 4am ET / 9am UTC / 10am CET
• PlayStation 4 - Wednesday, Dec 5th at 2am PT / 5am ET / 10am UTC / 11am CET
• Xbox One - Wednesday, Dec 5th at 3am PT / 6am ET / 11am UTC / 12pm CET

The Chapter 1: Overture update adds a new map, Panzerstorm, a new tutorial mode of sorts in Practice Range, a new single-player chapter where you play as a German soldier, vehicle cosmetic customisation options, and a series of gameplay balance changes. You can see the full patch notes here [PDF].

On a further-out timeline, Battlefield V will introduce a battle royale mode called Firestorm in March.

GameSpot's Battlefield V review scored the World War II shooter an 8/10. The game is available now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.