Battlefield is under a lot of fire right now, and the fans are mostly confused about the state of the franchise. And known insiders just revealed more plans for the future of Battlefield... it's not looking so good.
Battlefield 2042 was a misfire in many ways. Not a horrible game, but it came out in a messy state and the focus on things like Specialists didn't go down well with most people. What happened during development? And where will the Battlefield games go next? We now might know more, thanks to an infamous insider who dished out a lot of inside baseball on EA and what is going on with Battlefield.
Industry insider Tom Henderson is by now a known quantity, it feels like we talk about his revelations at least once a week. Now he focused on Battlefield, specifically 2042 and also the future of the franchise. And it is really not looking good...
What Went Wrong With Battlefield 2042?
Keep in mind: some of the following information has not been officially confirmed yet, but Henderson is solid and worked with some developers on this story. So we're confidant in the following info:
- Developers started leaving during the release of BFV, as EA wanted to compete against other games (BRs and normal shooters) and their concepts were ignored.
- EA basically gave the memo of "copy what's popular".
- Classes scrapped early 2020.
- Game shifted into a BF title April-August 2020 from the BR (so basically about 18 months of development time) with 128p & specialists.
- The game's original concept got shifted into Hazard Zone.
- Production only really got started and concepts got solidified in August 2020. So basically 1 year and 3 months of proper production.
- "Ahead of schedule" was a lie. Past & current DICE devs say it was based on baseless predictions.
In summary, there were a ton of development issues due to a massive lack of time and just overall mismanagement. Some of us thought that the game could have benefitted from an extra year of development, and this seems to confirm it. What a mess...
What Is The Future of Battlefield?
We already got a brief glimpse into the future of Battlefield 2042, and it was frankly shocking. But how about the franchise overall? Tom Henderson also revealed some nuggets on this topic:
- So many people have left DICE that the studio is basically so different now, that it needs time to reflect.
- Many ideas were scrapped, including a BC3 which EA thought wouldn't sell... for some reason.
- The next BF shooter is being scoped as a hero shooter, like Overwatch.
- A BR will come in the near future, not next 6 months but vague timeframe.
- EA apparently want to build a "connected universe" based on Battlefield 2042.
- This whole period for Battlefield has been so rocky, that none of this is set in stone yet. The studio and game are facing an identity crisis and need to figure out, what they should do next.
Phew... again, what a mess. This really sounds like EA, DICE and Battlefield are just in a bad place right now. They will need to put a lot of work into fixing Battlefield 2042 and then really sit down and have a good think about what the fans want from this franchise and where it needs to go. If they really want to make a hero shooter, though, which sounds even further away from Battlefield... ouch.