EA originally didn't want Battlefield 1.

Dice’s initial pitch for Battlefield franchise to go back to World War set was immediately turned down by EA’s boss, Patrick Söderlund.
He said “It wasn’t the most obvious choice (..) When the team presented to me the idea of World War 1 I absolutely rejected it. I said ‘World War 1 is a trench war, it can’t be fun to play’.” DICE wouldn’t give up with this idea.
“The team continued and persisted in the fact that this can be fun, and showed up with a very short demo that convinced me at least that this was the right path. The good news is whenever you take creative risks and it works, you actually can get to substantial success.”
For us, it was the right call for Battlefield to return to its roots. The market is filled with futuristic shooters, and it’s a nice change of pace to play once again in World War One. So far, Battlefield 1 has generated over 31 million views on YouTube and 1.6 million likes making the most viewed and liked EA title to date.