Battlefield 2042 has suffered ongoing issues since its launch in November 2021, with EA now admitting that the first-person shooter “did not meet expectations”.
In the company's recent Q3 earnings call (via The Verge), CEO Andrew Wilson addressed Battlefield 2042's turbulent last few months, calling the game “ambitious” but explaining that developing it during the Covid-19 pandemic – which meant its teams had to work from home – was “challenging”.
“Through our processes for testing and preparation, we believed the experience was ready to be put in our players’ hands,” Wilson said. “We launched with strong stability; however, as more players experienced the full game, it became clear there were unanticipated performance issues that we would need to address. Some of the design choices we made with the game also did not resonate with everyone in our community.”
EA recently announced it is delaying Season One of Battlefield 2042, to implement bug fixes and gameplay improvements, which are scheduled to roll out in the coming months in a set of updates.
“We are fully committed to realizing the full potential of this game, and fully committed to our Battlefield fans,” Wilson said about the delay and upcoming improvements. “We have already implemented a series of major updates to the game, and there is more to be done. Players can expect meaningful updates to continue in the weeks ahead, and we are shifting the first season of live service content to early summer as we work closely with our community to evolve and improve the core experience in Battlefield 2042.”
Analysis: is it too little too late?
Battlefield 2042 has been plagued with issues since its release back in November 2021. The latest entry in the long-running first-person shooter series looked to shake up the series in a meaningful and innovative way, introduce 128-player maps, new modes and a dynamic weather system. Instead, however, players' focus has very much been on the bugs and to game-breaking glitches that haunt the game.
And while the shake-up to the formula could have been a success, the Battlefield 2042 subreddit is inundated with posts raising issues about the game itself, including the lack of single-player campaign (but increased pricing), the map sizes, Specialists replacing classes and general performance issues.
EA's commitment to improving the game is welcome news, but it's possible it's too little too late for Battlefield 2042 unless developer EA Dice can do enough to garner favor from players once again.
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