DICE executive producer Aleksander Grondal has said he wishes Battlefield 1 had been more gender-inclusive.

Speaking to GamesRadar, Grondel responded to the backlash the company faced after adding women to the upcoming Battlefield V. While a certain subset of fans took offence at the move towards inclusion, the producer has taken to the game's defence and pushed aside suggestions of "jumping on the bandwagon."

"I think it’s a shame we didn’t [add women] because that perhaps would've been better for us,” said Grondal. “I don’t think it’s a bandwagon thing, I think it’s about gamers wanting to express themselves in different ways.

“If you take a look at Battlefield historically, it’s been about expressing yourself through gameplay, solving problems the way you want to, and these characters fall perfectly in line with that thinking."

He’s not alone. Recently departed EA boss Patrick Söderlund explicitly called out reactionary comments decrying inclusion as “not okay” follow Battlefield V’s reveal.

But EA and DICE aren’t the only parties tired of the more aggressively-hostile side of the gaming community. The Battlefield subreddit recently banned all discussion of “historical accuracy“, as bad-faith arguments against the inclusion of women, people of colour and disabilities flooded the site.