The joke is that most reviews now consider Battlefield 2042 to be a great game…
Here’s the thing: Battlefield 2042 is now really good. The game was released in 2021 in a state that has rightly become a punching bag for gamers and critics. Since then, DICE has hunkered down and quietly fixed almost every problem, adding and cleverly tweaking the game.
But “launch was not easy,” says producer Nika Bender. “Let’s be completely honest”. Associate producer Alexia Christofi added: “We shot for the moon, but we just missed”. The game was forced to postpone the first season due to a battle on the internet. User reviews and the general mood around the game were little less than a disaster. Publisher EA, of course, merely said that the game “did not live up to expectations”.
The developers have now shared their own stories about titles they worked on that didn’t turn out so well. But elements of them they still loved. For lead backend engineer Joakim Bodin, who is currently at Epic but recently worked at DICE/EA, that game is Battlefield 2042.
“This game had many iterations, and the deadline never changed much, so never stood much chance [of] being great at launch,” said Bodin on Twitter, appending a picture of the game’s Metascore of 68.
“I’m proud though to have pushed hard to have this game have full cross play, progression and (mostly) commerce. Its online systems will serve future titles well.”
Future titles, hmm. Battlefield is too big for one poorly received game to ruin everything. There certainly seems to be a lot in the pipeline. EA recently opened a new studio in Seattle called Ridgeline. They are working on a single-player Battlefield campaign. And Ripple Effect, the Los Angeles studio developing Battlefield Portal, is working independently. Battlefield GM Byron Beede confirmed to PC Gamer last year that something new was in the works at DICE.
So there’s no reason for Battlefield fans to be discouraged! And until the new episodes arrive, it’s worth giving 2042 a chance. Slowly, slowly, it really does live up to expectations.
This game had many iterations, and the deadline never changed much, so never stood much chance being great at launch.
I'm proud though to have pushed hard to have this game have full cross play, progression and (mostly) commerce. It’s online systems will serve future titles well https://t.co/l6tbqFhzgz pic.twitter.com/kCUx77aGqF
— Joakim Bodin👾 (@jbripley) May 26, 2023
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