The temperature is so hot among Battlefield fans right now that admins on the game’s subreddit recently threatened to close the page until its community cools down. Battlefield 2042 isn’t a bad game by any stretch, but it’s failed to live up to expectations by a pretty large margin, and owners are understandably irate.
The negative word-of-mouth has hurt sales numbers, too, and, according to series know-it-all Tom Henderson, publisher EA is “looking at all the options” in regards to moving forward with the title. That includes, allegedly, a free-to-play release. Currently the first-person shooter is a full-price product on the PlayStation 5 and PS4, so that’d be quite the change.
We suppose it’s more likely that the game will be added to EA Play before the publisher makes any seismic alterations to its price point. It’s also worth keeping in mind that there are still major issues that need to be addressed with the title, regardless of its delivery mechanism. It’s quite staggering to see another Battlefield title limp out like this, though – it feels like it has happened all-too often of late.
[source twitter.com, via resetera.com]
Comments 69
To be fair, even if it's not a bad game, it's still a bad Battlefield game. They went from having one of the most hyped BF games of all time, to having the most disappointing BF games of all time. They keep digging their graves with the awful costumes too and threatening to close down the subreddit too. Making it FTP would just make everyone more irate too since it would only make existing problems worse.
The game needs a complete overhaul to be honest. Maps are so big it's empty, classes need to be back, and all the silly costumes need to be gone in favor of the fitting and more generic soldiers they had before.
@Jaz007 Fair.
Gaming’s one of those strange things where giving it away free would probably turn more people off the game. It would alienate those who paid for it as well.
@Jaz007 From what I’ve seen this game has big problems in its foundation that’s not a quick patch fix. I don’t think it will ever be a good Battlefield game honestly.
They should have focused on keeping the traditional classes, these could have been monetized as well. They should have focused on building maps that feel fantastic for conquest and rush. No battle royale. I only played the one map, but it felt dead even though there was 128 players.
Heroes, poor maps and reduced features have absolutely killed my interest in this game.
People will get so heated if it goes ftp. Those poor people that actually bought it
I still have my 10 hour trial I originally downloaded then ended up uninstalling without playing it.
*Free play meaning...
Wouldn't that mean you still have to pay for the sub?
So this is good right?
I’ll say it. It’s a bad game in general and a horrible Battlefield game.
There’s no saving this dumpster fire. Battlefield V was flawed, but it was never an outright dumpster fire without the basic functions every shooter needs for competitive multiplayer.
Yikes. I know it had a rough launch but it definitely doesn't sound like it's getting much better. I haven't cared for anything from Dice since the PS3 era so I can't say I'm too surprised but still that's too bad for the folks who had faith in this one. It almost sounds like they might need to pull a FF14 and scrap it and try again from scratch.
@Jaz007
I bought it, played it for a weekend, and promptly returned it.
I knew going in it would be bad. I was there for Battlefield V’s launch and how much of a ***** show it was for us.
I had no idea the game (2042) was fundamentally broken. Not talking about glitches and bugs either. It’s not a Battlefield game. It feels like a Free to Play Battle Royale design that got rapidly given some Battlefield features and game modes after Apex Legends blew up and EA realized that they didn’t need two Battle Royale series.
@Korgon
It’s an awful, awful game. And an even worse Battlefield game.
They can’t even get rounds to hit on target right. The hit markers are broken. That’s the most basic part of any shooter. If I shoot something, I expect it to take damage. And it doesn’t. Half the time you’re hitting dead on but the game isn’t registering them as hits.
The specialists are broken. And stupid. It’s just a reason for hero skins.
And while every Battlefield game is full of jank at launch, this one has by the worst vehicle/infantry balance the series has ever scene. Infantry is almost useless. And I guess no one at Dice realized that being able to spawn tanks and those stupid hovercraft anywhere on the map any time was a horrible idea.
If this happens there may be potential for a class action lawsuit from at least the redditors who felt they didn't get their money's worth, if not more customers. I would be furious if I had pre-ordered this game and it went free to play shortly afterward before it had even been fixed up completely.
@TheRedComet
Yeah I have seen the hitmarkers not registering along with the ridiculous hovercraft nonsense in YouTube clips. It's a very bad state of affairs.
@OmegaStriver totally agree with this - the map I played was awful - a big empty space half filled with bots. The new hero characters are just not Battlefield either.
I’ve since gone to BF5 - I didn’t play it at launch but it’s fantastic now!
As a BF fan (since the first game) I was initially interested in the game, but that quickly changed when I heard it was becoming a hero shooter and saw peoples impression of the beta.
Don't know if I'm interested even if it goes free. There is too many worthwhile games to play to waste time on something like this.
Ahhhh yes, history repeats itself. Videogames went from niche, to common, to popular, to garbage.
@TheRedComet Just a question
I never played any Battlefield games. Only FPS I played was Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 3 on my friends PS3 and Call Of Duty Black Ops 4 on my friends PS4. What is the difference between the two games (Call of Duty and Battlefield) and are Battlefield games good anyway?
EA sure do love to kill their own franchises
Dang, guess I'm the only one who's been having a good time but it definitely needs more content.
Side note, what skins?
I go to the store and there's never none available to buy other than battle pass.
There's free skins with completing challenges.
I just can't comprehend how EA/Dice fed up the game so much.
The hype was crazy but man, they sure love messing things up badly.
They made some dumb decisions during the development period. Having no scoreboard in game like that is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. This is a competitive AAA shooter we are talking about. I have been playing battlefield since very first one, and honestly it is one of the weakest entries. It feels to me that the game has no soul. In mean time I am happily playing previous battlefields .
Remember when they were going to fix Anthem, and then just didn't? I mean different studios but EA releases have a knack for blowing up on the launchpad.
@nessisonett You say they like it’s a bad thing. If it’s free they have to rely on selling more santa clause costumes for the game to make money instead of removing them. That “free” comes at a big price.
when are they going to realize frostbite engine isnt worth this hassle
@Bamila no score board in game? I keep hearing this and are you all aware if you hold down the option button the score card magically pops up on screen showing your kills,assists etc? Battlefield isnt perfect but its better than warzone..i know people expected so much from this but i went in with open eyes a month after it launched so i knew the issues and i'm enjoying a heck of a lot more each time i play..
I'm not really a shooter player but I really liked Battlefield 1 and, after it was fixed Battlefront 2 was fun for a while. I installed BF 2042 (10 hours trial) and deleted after 45 minutes. Even free would not have me reinstall.
Well, at least it has a decent single player campaign. …er, oh wait…
It should've been anyway with no single player & micro transactions
I had such a lucky escape with this, i was really hyped and was going to go all in with the most expensive edition as i enjoyed the beta but about 3 weeks prior to release i found myself in a spot where i could possibly lose internet access for months so i held off buying it. As it is i haven't lost internet access but damn i was lucky i had that bother haha.
@sonicmeerkat I heard Anthem is dead.
Didn't that game suck?
@anoyonmus call of duty is very arcadey in the way it plays..its great fun but the maps are too small for tdm and are a spawn campers wet dream on free for all..battlefield is much larger in scope and overall is a much more tactical game..people on here will have you believe its utter garbage but its not..its just not quite there yet..the issues being reported are blown way out of proportion (no voice chat..party chat with your friends or set up a squad chat)..no score board (hold down options and voila..)..empty maps? (Are you sure you aint on the ps4 version? Yeah low blow but the ps4 version is sooo empty) so i guess it all boils down to what you want from the game..
@Northern_munkey I see, thanks
@Northern_munkey I understand that some things are blown out of proportion but the scoreboard isn't.
Yes, you can hold down options and see a scoreboard but only has your squad only. With the left being your ribbon progress.
Sorry, but that ain't a scoreboard - last iterations had a very good scoreboard - no need to change it.
Also, the kill feed only shows your squad only even if you set it to show all.
Regarding maps, even in PS5, it's empty - only certain areas are packed plus you need to travel way too much to find action but I find this more in Conquest mainly
Breakthrough is the best mode at the moment - as you have to run into people to progress and the areas are small enough (but still big) so you can run into people more frequently.
Does not mean it's a complete ***** show - it's a decent game and have fun playing with friends but the class system and some things should not have been changed - it takes away from the BF formula.
It becomes stale after a while
Hopefully, they'll continue to fix but there is a lot to be fixed
Well can they focus on the Dead Space remake and not make it crap please....because if it goes well I belive there will be a revival and some new dead space games
I like the game (and I've played Battlefield extensively since BFBC2).
They simply need to add; infantry focussed maps, infantry focussed modes (just copy and paste BF4's playlists), Server Browser, Voice Chat, More Guns and stop threatening the playerbase that 64 player modes are temporary...why are they temporary? I havent touched 128 player mode once and 64 player Conquest really does give you some of the old skool Battlefield feels at times..
Like when I C5'd a couple of camping snipers from their nest the other night.
And on the topic of sniping (which I'm playing permanently), sniping is beautiful in this game 👌
Have to admit, I was sold on the idea of this being BF back to it's very best, which most recently was BF4 in my opinion. As others have said, this is not a bad game as such, but a bad BF game it is. I've enjoyed the few hours I've played it to be fair, but something is missing (as well as players). The fact that it was included in a PSN sale so early should have raised a couple of red flags to me, but I still bought it. Similar to how I bought the GTA trilogy too. Will I ever learn?
I paid for this crap. If it goes f2p I'll be contacting the store or EA about a refund.
First game announced for Spartacus confirmed
At least we have COD....oh
EA’s properly trying to kill itself off at this point, right?
Just kill this game already, if dice can't launch unbroken games maybe they're just not fit to become game studio.
The reviews I read sounded like it needed at least another year of development and a lot more thought. Wish them well fixing it.
@OmegaStriver Agreed, plus the lack of destruction, the one thing I hoped they had expanded upon.
The specialists break what battlefield was about. Everyone working in a fireteam had a defined role and was easily identifiable by how they looked. Now no one is really sure who does what and solo 'hero' play is the default. It also feels like the trailer with all the crazy stuff happening is only achievable by only the highest ability players, everyone else just exists for them to rack up their kills and make them look fantastic on their streams
It's a big shame for the game. What was once a highly anticipated game turned out to be another disappointing blunder, but I shouldn't be sueprised at this point.
After playing the beta I knew this wasnt going to be a great game, had the same feeling after BFV. It's like the developers are lost and out of touch with what the fans genuinely want. This isn't just EA though, seems to happen very often across all developers.
Maybe if they had included a campaign and not just went money grabbing then it might have sold more. Also Free to play is never free.
@Ev3X i agree with what you said and upon reflection i understand what you mean about empty spaces..my issues were that people were saying there isnt a scoreboard at all and that maps were empty because no one was playing (at least that was my take on it) and if i'm wrong then i'm wrong..no worries..
@nessisonett they'll be already pissed for spunking out 70,90,or 110 quid for various versions, not because it might soon be free but because it's just not worth that amount of money
The writing was on the wall about Battlefield 2042's fate when despite Xbox having all its marketing, very close to launch Microsoft decided to shadow drop Infinite's multiplayer.
hey devs... take note... your woke BS in your games SUCKS and it sucks so much that people wont want your games even when they're free! go back to how BF2 and BF3 were, duh! i dont care if 5000 people can play on a map, FPS games shouldnt be any larger than what BF2 or BF3 offered.
@anoyonmus
Battlefield is based around squad combat utilizing distinct classes and a marriage between infantry and vehicles to take control points (when we are talking about conquest, the main game mode for each Battlefield). Battlefield and Call of Duty are fundamentally different shooters.
Battlefield is more rewarding than Call of Duty in most cases. You see and do things that would never happen in a Call of Duty title.
Unfortunately Dice has a habit of releasing Battlefield games in a half finished state. After a few months, they’re fantastic.
The issue is that 2042 is, at its core, not a Battlefield game. It’s a Battle Royale game that was hastily converted to a Battlefield title.
@oconnoclast yeah we already established my faux pas but thanks for the extra clarification..
I've always preferred Battlefield to CoD. Maybe... just maybe... EA makes this free to play and moves on to the next Battlefield with a great single player campaign and great multiplayer... in Bad Company 3. Playstation could easily become the platform for Battlefield, but both Sony and EA have to make a deal, and obviously EA have to do better than its latest iteration of the militaristic FPS.
Word of mouth has stopped me from buying 2042 on PS5 and it's also stopped my bud who's a hardcore Battlefield player. That's pretty telling in and of itself.
This isn't really surprising. People wanted a Battlefield game, this isn't it.
@TheRedComet I see
@zhoont that's why preordering is just so stupid.
Removed - disrespecting others
Maybe, just maybe people didn’t buy because there wasn’t a campaign. I can’t be the only one.
They way they designed this game with classes etc excluding the gameplay, you can see they wanted to go heavy on monetization, i bet if it was happily accepted & enjoyed they would of gone throttle on microtransactions with the blueprints in the space of 2 month's but now with it possibly going the free to play route, they will be dreaming and throffing from the mouth with desire.
"Battlefield 2042 isn’t a bad game by any stretch" LMFAO. Did the person who wrote that one-liner actually play the game??? This is hands down the worst BF game EVER and also a game that's so frustrating and aggravating to play it's literally not fun. I'd call that a 'bad game' any day of the week. F Dice, F EA and F this terrible game!!!
@oconnoclast I’m with @Dan_ozzzy189 about Hell Let Loose. You’ve got to have patience and know how the game works to really appreciate it, team work and communication is a must. If your used to games like CoD and BF then you’ve got no chance unless you adapt to the game’s play style. It’s also my favourite FPS. Feel free to block me just because I enjoy a game you don’t.
Meh, both Battlefield and CoD have been irrelevant for me for over a decade. I suppose this could be good news for some, but I'd argue it's bad news for all.
EA is already notorious for loot boxes and micro-transactions, and from what I recall, the last couple Battlefield games went all in on this. Particularly 2042 with having the kill animations go to a 3rd person camera view to help sell more finishing animations.
I can only imagine how much worse the game would be if it went F2P.
I'm gutted I paid extra to play early, what an absolute waste of money. I just play Halo daily now, refreshing to play a mutliplayer FPS that runs great without any serious glitches (in my experience). BF2042 was riddled was issues, the stray bullets issue at launch was unforgiveable. Everyone was running around with SMGs because they were the only weapon type that could shoot straight, embarrassing.
@Jaz007 It should have been pushed back a lot to polish the game. People get sick of waiting for a game to get fixed after release with so many options nowadays.
@xyopic To be fair the players seem to stick to their IP's no matter how big the mess is.
So i might act like the advocate of the devil but the gamers are the problem.
Just dont buy your yearly update without a review or even that big Blockbuster because they use FOMO because of a cool steelcase to give a example (yeah im a part of the problem sometimes too). With COD i could get over my FOMO and just said its enough.
If 50% would do that im certain that this nonsense would stop quite fast. I can thank them for one thing and i can now say F*** it im skipping this update i could even wait for FF7R.
Its not just the reddit thread derailing.. lol
I'm outta here
I picked this up for 40 quid over Christmas on xbox (some mates play on team green). Even though it was cheaper, I'll probably be pretty annoyed if it goes free to play.
I fail to see how making something free suddenly makes it better. Cost and quality aren't mutually exclusive.
I remember seeing The Act Man list all the game issues some weeks ago, and suggest they'd be smart to hold off on release and fix those. Apparently they didn't. Good job, everyone! Keep running forward with that "release it broken, patch it later or maybe not at all" attitude, gamers love that.
I am a long-time fan of BF4. I have played BF1 to some degree, but next to nothing of BFV, which is more down to time constraints than lack of interest.
I cannot commit to any “live-service” game nowadays, so BF4, being as it pre-dates the micro-transaction market, still holds favour.
Hearing about all the cosmetics introduced in BF2042 immediately puts me off the game. It sounds too similar to the COD model of recent years, as well as Fortnite’s similar cosmetics obsession. BF has always maintained a form of realism, yet now it appears to be pandering to what is popular and eschewing what it was that made it stand out in the first place.
Bot-filled expansive maps also sound like a mistake - what does it matter if the maps are “full” and give an impression of intensity and all-out-war, if the AI is lacking? It’s multiplayer for a reason and should remain purely so. If the maps aren’t conducive to having a larger player count, then redesign the maps. This worked for the PS3 versions, with its 32-player limit.
Perhaps one way to save this game would be to bring more of the old maps back. Maybe even a combined remaster of BF3&4 or Bad Company 1&2.
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