Battlefield players have had a reasonably tough time with the franchise these past few years. 2018’s Battlefield V launch was a disaster, but 2021’s Battlefield 2042 was worse, pushing a lot of Battlefield fans away from the franchise. But now, with just a year until the next major installment in the Battlefield universe set to release, EA and DICE have a lot of making up to do.
Officially, EA has said all of the usual buzzwords you’d come to expect in its financial calls to promote the next game from “innovation” to “groundbreaking.” An interview with IGN earlier this year with head honcho Vince Zempella confirmed Insider Gaming’s past reports that the franchise was taking a “back to its roots approach” with 64 players, all-out destruction, and a modern setting. It all looks promising on paper, yet the scars of the past still burn today with its community, and fans of the franchise are still apprehensive about the future. Considering the franchise’s last two blunders, it’s understandable, but this time, EA and DICE seem to be all-in on ensuring it doesn’t happen a third time.
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On a funding front, the next Battlefield has the most resources in the franchise’s history. Four studios are currently working on Battlefield: DICE, Motive, Criterion Games, and Ripple Effect. More importantly, EA and its studios seem more interested in gaining player feedback this time around. Of course, it’s not uncommon for games to have playtests during development. Almost every game has them at one point or another, but this time around, things are a lot different.
Sources say that playtests with external players are happening much more frequently than in past installments, and the amount of data and feedback collected is the most the franchise has seen in its history. From small feedback sessions to large-scale player tests, Battlefield is now taking the much-needed “player first” approach. It’s an approach that we’ll see continued to be played out coming to the start of the year, too, as it’s understood that EA and its studios have been eying up the return of the Battlefield Community Test Environment, but to what scale that’s incorporated at this time is unclear.
All in all, Battlefield seems to be trying to mend the mistakes it’s made, and with a return to a modern military shooter with destruction, four classes, and 64-player battles, EA could have a win on its hands. That being said, we’re still a year-ish from release and things can change, but so far at least, Battlefield could be back.
If you have any questions on the next Battlefield game, please create a thread on the Insider Gaming forum, and I’ll answer them throughout the next couple of days.
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It needs a proper Alpha/ Beta, Not just to stress test the servers.
If they know what the issues are when a Battlefield game launches……….. That’s what they have to test for
Need a good Vietnam war game from battlefield.
Bringing back destruction will be great! Any thoughts on bringing back the commander? That was something different and really enjoyed being able to log on anywhere with a tablet and get in on the action still
Bring back Bad Company 2 style and mechanics. In fact give us Bad Company 3. Battlefield BC 2 and Battlefield 3 were the peak of Battlefield franchise with BF 4 everything went down. Battlefiled 5 was disaster. Battlefiled 2042……no comment. I have no any hope for the new BF, I have lost faith in the franchise. There are no more people in DICE who took part in the development of BC 2 and BF 3.
Honestly if they just make a battlefield 3 2.0 then I think everyone will be happy. And I really hope they make a big campaign again. The stories were cool but I miss the awesomeness of long campaigns. And I know they can do it. The campaigns of battlefield bad company 1 & 2 and battlefield 3 & 4 were dope. But as long as they fully understand that the gameplay and mechanics of 3 & 4 are what we want, then they will succeed.
Eh, it’s a big franchise. No matter what they do people with froth and there’s diehard fans for each entry. It’s par for the course with every large franchise.
But still…..hoping for a good Battlefield game like the Bad Companies, BF3, or BF1. Those were my jam. To be fair though, pretty much every Battlefield game has been pretty terrible/had really rough launches.