Battlefield 2042 is due to be released in only a few short months. But with recent news concerning which versions will be available to pre-order, a lot of fans were left with the question: is it even worth it? Well, the game does look fantastic, but here are some reasons why you shouldn't pre-order Battlefield 2042.
Let me start out by saying directly: I think Battlefield 2042 will be a good game, I think the developers deserve every success for their hard work, and I'm not making an argument against buying the game when it is released. There are some business practices at play here that I disagree with though, and I think pre-orders will encourage those practices in the future. So here's why you shouldn't pre-order the game.
Update: When we originally published this article we had four reasons not to pre-order, now we have five.
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Why Pre–Ordering Battlefield Isn't Worth It
Early Access Exploits Your Impatience
A big draw to pre-order for a lot of people will be the week-early access to Battlefield 2042. This divides the player base between the haves and have–nots, and it's somewhat pay–to–win. But more than anything, it's exploiting your impatience to get the game early, rather than offering you real value. I suggest that as gamers, we shouldn't support that kind of marketing
Like keeping up to speed with all things Battlefield? So do we, here's a few of the new additions in case you missed anything:
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You Shouldn't Pay To Be In An 'Open Beta'
By definition, Battlefield will not have an 'Open Beta' despite what the marketing on its website says. If you need to pay for access, then it's closed. And like the last complaint, this exploits your patience to play. You're being asked to experiment on an unfinished game and to pay for the privilege. A beta can be a chance to try before you buy, but if you need to buy to even try, then your complaints will fall on deaf ears.
The Pre–Order Might End Up Costing Rather Than Saving You Money
With the Gold or Ultimate edition of Battlefield 2042, you pay $30 more, and you get each season's Battle Pass for the first year, so four Battle Passes. Now, the Battle Pass will almost certainly cost around ten dollars, like other games in which such a system features. But as with other Battle Passes, it's likely you will earn in-game currency while completing the pass, such that the next season's pass will always cost much less. So if you do play a lot, this might in fact be costing you more than it saves you.
We Don't Want A Cyberpunk Situation
The main issue here, at least in my mind, is that this Battlefield is getting almost too much hype. It looks solid, and I wouldn't want people's spirits dampened. But it will be a Battlefield game at the end of the day, it can't save all the bored Warzone fans or offer Ghost Recon players a perfect mil-sim. There's clearly an interest in letting us believe those things to encourage pre-order sales, but when the game is released, it would be a shame for people to be disappointed because they lost sight of what Battlefield 2042 is, and was always going to be. Instead, perhaps the curious should wait for the actual release, and for the first proper reviews to be written before they put money on the line.
Battlefield 2042 Has Been Delayed - And So Early Access Will Be Shorter
As of September 15, Battlefield 2042 has been delayed. Its original release would have been October 15 for Early Access and October 22 for normal buyers, but now the game will be released for everyone on November 19. The delay has forced them to cancel Early Access because they don't believe they can justify making people wait a week when it's already late. They have not finalized any decisions yet though, and some rumors suggest that pre-orders might get surprised by Early Access for a day or two. Although before, they were promised a week.
Early Access was one of the only benefits for people who chose to pre-order and now it's effectively gone.
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