It is no secret that Battlefield 2042 has not lived up to the expectations of the franchise’s loyal fanbase. Indeed, many Battlefield fans have deleted the game from their PC or console and vowed never to install it again. This week, for the first time since the Battlefield 2042 launch, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Electronic Arts (EA), Andrew Wilson, admitted the company’s shortcomings regarding the much-maligned title.
Wilson was speaking on a conference call with Goldman Sachs this week, where he admitted that EA had dropped the ball on both Battlefield 2042 and the previous installment Battlefield V. Wilson spent some time essentially bragging about how much money the FIFA franchise and Apex Legends pull in annually, before briefly glossing over the failings of the popular Battlefield titles.
The Battlefield franchise has a legion of loyal fans, many of who have played since the first iteration some 20 years ago. Get things right, and it is a serious cash cow and one that would be up there with the favorites for the coveted Game of the Year award with those who make winning Vegas bets online. However, get it wrong, and it suddenly becomes a PR disaster.
EA CEO Likens Battlefield Missteps to Star Wars
“I don’t think we delivered in the last two iterations of that in the way that we should have. There’s a lot of work we’ve got to do there. But at its very core, it’s an extraordinary IP. And what we’ve seen in the world of entertainment is that great IP is resilient,” Wilson said. “We’ve seen movies, you know, that do not live up to the expectations of the franchise; Star Wars might be one such franchise. Then you can see what happens when you get the right creative team involved and how they can completely reinvent and grow a franchise.”
“I think we have an extraordinary creative team involved in Battlefield now. We have unbelievable ambitions to own the first-person shooter space. In a world where there are questions as to the future of Call of Duty and what platforms that might be on and might not be on, being platform-agnostic and completely cross-platform with Battlefield is a tremendous opportunity.”
Wilson’s comments came only a week after the head of the Battlefield franchise, Vince Zampella, admitted they may have been too ambitious with Battlefield 2042 and lost track of what makes Battlefield so great and unique.
“They tried to do a couple of things that were maybe ambitious: grow the player count etc. I don’t think they spent enough time iterating on what makes that fun.”
What Exactly Is Wrong With Battlefield 2042?
Before you can answer what is wrong with Battlefield 2042, you have to look at what makes Battlefield the title that it is. Past titles combine gritty realism with “only in Battlefield” moments. Players control life-like soldiers across four or five classes in a theatre where communication is key to success. This is where Battlefield 2042 first fell down.
Gone are the classes (although they are meant to return in some capacity for Season 3), and in came “Specialists” that look like they have been lifted straight from the cartoon-like Apex Legends. VOIP support was not added until almost nine months after launch, and even now, it does not work correctly.
Then there is the lack of weapons and vehicles combined with awful map design. EA was so focussed on creating 128-player maps that they failed to realize those maps contained massive, open spaces that turn parts of the game into a running simulator. Sure, they have reworked some of the launch maps, and the two new maps are, on the whole, very good, but it feels like EA is doing the bare minimum to keep the title afloat.
The company claims to have a team dedicated to improving Battlefield 2042 and that they are “all-in” on the franchise. Yet even a year after launch, entering a vehicle with certain weapons renders it impossible to aim down your sights once you leave said vehicle!
The Battlefield 2042 roadmap shows content up to Season 4. You can bet your bottom dollar EA will drop the title like a hot potato at the first opportunity to do so legally.
