Battlefield 2042: Release postponed to November 2021

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Battlefield 2048 postponed

Multiple sources claim that the shooter is changing its release plans at short notice. There is no official confirmation of this.

It is currently suspiciously quiet around Battlefield 2042. Hardly any gameplay, hardly any news on the official channels. And that, although the beta is supposed to start in just a few days – allegedly on 22 September.

Actually, the new Battlefield is supposed to be released on 22 October 2021, but several leakers report unanimously that EA is postponing the shooter. There is no confirmation from the developers.

Update: September 15, 22:30: Now it’s official: The release of Battlefield 2042 has been postponed to November 19, 2021. DICE cited “unforeseen challenges due to the global pandemic” as the reason.

According to the official announcement, it was hoped that the team would be back in the office at launch to work on Battlefield 2042. Since this is currently not possible, additional time is needed to achieve the goals and demands that have been set. Updates on the planned open beta are expected to follow in September.

Update September 15, 1:30pm: Well-known leaker Tom Henderson also confirms that he has heard of an impending postponement. However, according to him, Battlefield 2042 could still be released in November 2021 and thus only be delayed by a few weeks. The beta is still scheduled to launch on September 22, which has also not yet been officially confirmed:

Supposedly short-term release postponement

Where did the rumours come from? Several well-known leakers and insiders, who have proven to be quite reliable in the past, are reporting the alleged postponement on Twitter. Among them are YouTuber Dealer Gaming, Shpeshal_Nick and Okami13:

How far should Battlefield be moved? Some sources are talking about a postponement to 2022, others assume that Battlefield will still be released this year and just slip back a few weeks.

Whether this could also have an impact on the open beta is not yet known. Shpeshal_Nick clarifies he has only heard of a delay, which doesn’t necessarily indicate 2022:

What are the arguments for this?

A short-term postponement wouldn’t come as too much of a surprise to many gamers after EA and DICE are currently keeping an extremely low profile.

For comparison: Call of Duty Vanguard will not be released until November, but has already been heavily promoting itself for weeks, launching several beta phases and releasing gameplay, showing pictures of the new maps and so on.

We have been hearing about internal delays in Battlefield 2042 for several weeks now, but we have never been able to verify or prove the reports.

What’s wrong with that?

A postponement at this point would be extremely short notice – especially if it affects the beta itself, which was supposed to take place in September. This is because it would be extremely close to the release anyway: the first pre-orderers will be able to access the live servers of BF2042 as early as 15 October, according to the current plan.

Moving a beta less than a week before the start date is associated with an enormous logistical effort, since promotional material such as trailers, server infrastructure, press events & Co. must be organised in advance.

With a postponement to 2022, Battlefield 2042 would also miss out on the extremely lucrative Christmas business and thus also the typical release window of the Battlefield series (Battlefield 5, Battlefield 1, Battlefield 4 and Battlefield 3 all appeared in October or November).

Whether EA will make this decision should become clear in the near future – we’ll let you know as soon as there’s official info.

What do you think? Do you think a spontaneous postponement is realistic or do you think Battlefield will keep its target release date?