EA has revealed the success of Battlefield 2042’s turnaround, leading them to continue supporting the game.
As reported by Insider Gaming, this is what the company told investors about the game in their latest earnings call:
“Just last month we launched Season 6 for Battlefield 2042, and our community is responding positively, driving record engagement on Steam. This illustrates the strength today and long-term potential of the franchise. Through innovation and creativity, our teams continue to support this huge community of fans while building towards the future of Battlefield.”
It does seem, strangely enough, that Battlefield 2042 is out of sight, out of mind for many gamers, so it is worth reviewing its history for readers to recall what it went through.
Originally released in November 19, 2021 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S, Battlefield 2042 originally released as a critical and commercial disappointment.
Part of this was criticism of the game itself, which had tried to shake things up so much that franchise head Vince Zampella said that it had diverged too far from what Battlefield was supposed to be. But adding to this was the game’s poor technical shape when it came out on launch.
In fact, the game’s technical issues became such an issue that EA DICE promised they would not launch Season 1 until all these issues had been sorted out, in such a way that Battlefield 2042 was in the shape that the studio intended it to be in at launch.
Much like what CD Projekt RED pulled off with Cyberpunk 2077, EA DICE was successful in rehabilitating Battlefield 2042, and bringing it to the redemption narrative that it is in today. In spite of the scoffing of some gamers and fans, EA was also able to successfully relaunch Battlefield 2042, to the point that EA looks to it as it does its annualized sports games, as one of their successful live service games.
Battlefield is far away from where it was when EA was pitting it against Activision’s Call of Duty. But then, maybe that’s going to be just fine. EA may very well see Battlefield’s potential better realized by having it go in its own direction.
But as of right now, we don’t really know what the future of Battlefield holds. Will EA press reset on the franchise and bring it back to basics? Or will they be happy pursuing the live service model in the near future? It all depends on what EA decides to do in the next few years.
