We have word on an upcoming special edition for Battlefield 2042, that might be arriving as soon as a few days.
According to Proteus Gaming, Battlefield 2042 Elite Edition will already be arriving this May 26, 2023, at 08:00 PM (PST). The game will also arrive on the same platforms Battlefield 2042 is already available on. That means, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows via Steam and Origin.
Proteus Gaming did not share more details, but they did consolidate their rumor with those from other sources.
They referred to rumors from billbil-kun from March. billbil-kun stated that Battlefield 2042 does have Year 2 content coming, but it will be released alongside Season 5.
It also ties in to a rumor posted on reddit at around the same time. Dataminers found proof that Battlefield 2042 Year 2 already had a market listing in the Origin client. It had a placeholder price of 2 euros, which we all know would never be the price EA would charge.
For those who don’t remember, Battlefield 2042 was released all the way back in October 2021, clearly not ready for that release date.
Much like some other games that launched in this way, EA DICE’s developers did put the work in to fix Battlefield 2042. They had finally publicly stated that they decided that the game was up to what they wanted it to be last December.
While that’s good news for the hardcore fans, it was obviously a year too late for EA. While Battlefield 2042 ended up being the fifth best-selling game of 2021, EA revealed that it had missed its sales targets.
EA has also frankly discussed in post mortems how much Battlefield 2042 strayed too far from the franchise’s conventions. Most recently, they had talked to investors about plans to revamp the franchise.
Don’t let this prevailing Battlefield vs Call of Duty narrative mislead you. Battlefield is one of the most successful franchises of modern gaming, and the rare nearly annualized game franchise that can be depended upon for sales, even when the game isn’t good for that year.
There have also been many years where Battlefield has matched or outperformed Call of Duty. Alternately, when the same developers made the recent Star Wars Battlefront games, those also gamely competed with Activision’s moneymaker.
This reboot is a response primarily to the market failure of Battlefield 2042, but EA also wants to defend DICE for having made this game that is now up to their standards. I dare say they are right to do so, and they may be right to believe that fans who were turned off by the launch issues will jump in for Battlefield 2042 Elite Edition. After all, it’s time for DICE to have their redemption narrative too.
