The follow-up to Battlefield 2042 will be taking a page out of Call of Duty: Warzone, PUBG: Battlegrounds, Fortnite, and other popular games by introducing a free-to-play battle royale mode, according to a new report that teases where the Battlefield franchise is supposedly headed and how EA and DICE are trying to bring the series back to its roots. Unlike Battlefield 2042, which released in November 2021 to lukewarm reviews, the new Battlefield is said to take place within the current decade, with a focus on modern weapons.
Highlights:
- Ripple Effect is developing Battlefield’s battle royale mode, which is free to play and inspired by Call of Duty: Warzone
- 64-player matches (vs. 128), return of the four-class system, overhaul to destruction systems
- “Gauntlet,” another game mode, lets players compete in objective-based modes (lowest-scoring team gets kicked out after each mission)
- Set in the modern day, somewhere around 2025–2030
- Tentative target release date of October
Insider Gaming noted:
Respawn Entertainment’s Vince Zempalla is now head honcho leading the series, with Christian Grass heading Ripple Effect (formerly DICE LA) and Byron Beede becoming the new General Manager of the franchise. … The game is said to be the brainchild of … Beede, who had been previously leading live service for Call of Duty.
Battlefield 2042 continues to be criticized years after its release:
- “Graphics, guns and game modes are fine. It’s the tick-rate / netcode that sucks. They just never fixed it.”
- “This game is just an amalgamation of all of the other typical live-service tropes we see nowadays (battle passes, overpriced skins, daily challenges, etc.) and I personally just don’t care for any of that.”
- “No single-player story/campaign mode…No standard server browser…Fewer standardized game modes…No global leader boards…”
- “This game should be free.”
Most recent development update, from August 2023: