This morning, EA and DICE finally and officially revealed the next Battlefield game. Unlike all the speculation, the game isn’t titled Battlefield 6. Instead, calling the game Battlefield 2042, and basing it 21 years into the future. Outside of a nearly five-minute long trailer filled with a lot of eye candy, the drip-feed of information about the game across different gaming sites certainly paints an interesting picture.
Chaos with 127 other players
From information gathered on sites like Game Informer and GameSpot to name just a few, Battlefield 2042 is a multiplayer-only BF game that’s going to allow for up to 128 players to battle it out in different modes across a lot of different locales including Korea and Antarctica. Although there isn’t a single-player portion like previous games in the series, you will be able to play the multiplayer modes with AI Bots. While that’s sure to disappoint a lot of players, including me, it still doesn’t take away from the possibilities and frantic action of environments that will fit 128 players.
The images and the trailer that we got definitely look impressive. Sure, it’s not true gameplay, there was a lot going on. I’m certain diehard BF fans have scraped through the video to find any and every possible detail in the hopes of uncovering more.
It also sounds like the Microsoft press conference this Sunday will feature more information on the game. It’s clear that while Call of Duty continues to leverage its partnership with Sony and Playstation, EA is working with Microsoft and Xbox on Battlefield 2042. That could mean that it’s possible EA + Microsoft could equal the game launching on Game Pass in October or some sort of Game Pass version that doesn’t include certain stuff but serves as a starter edition to bring in more players.
Still no Frostbite 4 information
Also, we didn’t get any new news on Frostbite. I’ve written about my feelings that a new Battlefield game would also open the door to a new version of the game engine. While that didn’t happen today, it’s still possible we could hear more about that in the coming days, during the Microsoft event on Sunday, or at EA Play Live in July. I can’t believe that EA wouldn’t show off the features of a new graphical engine for new consoles.
Although I’m not big on multiplayer shooters (I just don’t have quick reaction skills to play First-Person shooters very well), I have always found BF’s multiplayer modes really enjoyable. I’m definitely interested to learn more about BF 2042. At the same time, I’m hoping we get some news around Frostbite because of the trickle-down effect it will have on other EA titles coming out in 2021 and beyond.