The bad news about EA’s Battlefield 2042 doesn’t stop. It has now been announced that Season 1 of the multiplayer shooter will probably not be released until the summer and thus more than half a year after the November 2021 release. Will the game be able to stay afloat for that long, despite declining player numbers?
Desolate technical condition and dissatisfied players
At the launch of the shooter, there was already a lot of criticism about the poor and buggy state of the game on all platforms. Fundamental gameplay decisions were also questioned as well as the little content. Dice gradually helped with some patches, but it didn’t seem to help much. In the meantime, there are even more active online players in the older Battlefield games than in the current 2042. For a short time, rumours even circulated that a switch to a Free-2-Play model was imminent.
Now it has been confirmed that the long-awaited Season 1 will not be released until sometime in early summer this year. So it’s a long dry spell for players. The reason given by the developers is that they want to focus on the current state of the game before adding new content. Nevertheless, a small consolation for all buyers of Battlefield 2042 who were expecting a fully-fledged, finished and fun multiplayer shooter.
Today we’re sharing the latest Battlefield 2042 details, our new player feedback loop, and a status update for Season One.
Learn full details: https://t.co/6y8368gebO pic.twitter.com/WrueRz2ICm
– Battlefield (@Battlefield) February 1, 2022
EA Expresses Disappointment with Battlefield 2042
To make matters worse, publisher EA has now also made critical comments about the state of Battlefield 2042. At an investor conference, they showed disappointment about the performance, the condition and the steadily decreasing player numbers, but still have hope in the game. A Free-2-Play model option should therefore be off the table, at least for the time being. As a possible reason for the difficult development phase responsible for this, CEO Andrew Wilson cited the home office work that came with the Corona pandemic. These have made the previously big, perhaps too big, ambitions even more impossible to realise.
Despite this, Wilson says they want to keep working on Battlefield 2042 and not give up on the game. The aim is to “realise the full potential of the game”. That will take time, though. Will it succeed before the players finally get fed up with the tactical modern military shooter? At least there are plans for many more seasons, maps and DLCs. But for the time being, the developers have to work hard on the basic framework of the game and at least bring it up to a similar level of quality as competitor Call of Duty: Vanguard and Warzone, for which images of a Season 2 were recently leaked.
