EA has set themselves a deadline to release the next Battlefield game.
As reported by Video Games Chronicles, the company told investors they intend to release the next Battlefield game in fiscal year 2026.
Much like in Japan, the US sets their financial years from the first day of April to the last day of March. So in this case, the next Battlefield game should release before April 1, 2026. They should publish the game sometime between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026.
That statement indicates that Battlefield is nearing the end of development. This runs counter to rumors and speculation that the game has been facing development issues, and may even be in development hell.
To be fair, there was good reason to believe that Battlefield was having trouble. It’s a matter of fact that EA shut down Ridgeline Games, one of the studios working on this particular title. Subsequently, several staff left the project through the years, such as creative director Craig Morrison.
Just last month, we reported on claims from a former EA employee that the company drove out their old guard, and everyone working on Battlefield is new to the game. Those claims remain uncorroborated, but they’re certainly credible.
But we would also argue that even if it angered those veteran developers, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing that new developers have taken over Battlefield. There are some fans who do hold out hope that Vince Zampella will get this franchise right. Given his history with Call of Duty and Respawn Entertainment, it’s easy to see the appeal of this as a comeback narrative several years and games in the making.
There is one rumor about Battlefield that did get confirmed. As we reported last September, EA was planning to launch a huge community program for the game. EA made that public as they launched the Battlefield Labs program this week.
And EA seems to have ensured that most of this Battlefield was done production before they started the program. While we still don’t know what the story campaign or other game design elements will be like, these moves are set to really put Battlefield on a path to success.
If there’s still any uncertainty left, it’s from EA’s CEO boasting of this game’s live service component in prior financial meetings. Clearly, this factor could make or break this next Battlefield. But if we remember that Vince Zampella found a middle ground that made players and EA management happy on Apex Legends’ monetization, he would presumably be able to do that again.
This moment will be make or break for Zampella too, and so all eyes are on him and EA if they can really stage Battlefield’s big comeback.
