Battlefield 2042 as a modern AAA game has the price point of $69.99, a point of contention for many players because its lack of content and general bugginess. One player though has stumbled upon a new version of Battlefield 2042 for $4.99 at GameStop, making for a funny scene and taking the conversation of the game's warranted price in an interesting direction.
For the first time in years, the big three of the FPS scene—Battlefield, Call of Duty, and Halo—all released new entries in the same year, each with varying degrees of success. In some ways Battlefield 2042 is the series' most ambitious title, DICE cranking the scale of combat to never-before-seen heights with massive maps and 64-player teams on next-generation hardware. Unfortunately, due to technical and development issues, as well as an ongoing lack of content and minimal updates, many Battlefield 2042 players are unhappy with the game in its current state. The player base is so riled that the mods of the Battlefield 2042 subreddit have threatened its closure if the toxicity continues.
A player has allegedly found new a copy of Battlefield 2042 at GameStop for $4.99. The discovery was made by GamesNosh on Twitter who shares an image of them holding a copy of Battlefield 2042 with a sticker showing the $4.99 "NEW" price down from $69.99. While GameStop is currently running a promotion on Battlefield 2042 that drops the price down to $39.82 on practically every system, this obviously is not the discount pictured by GamesNosh. With that said, it is unclear then whether this was a simple pricing mistake by a GameStop employee or intentionally done as a joke.
There are an overwhleming number of people in GamesNosh's replies expressing their views on the game, most of which being negative. Some comments are directly pointed at Battlefield 2042's troubled state and level of quality, people either disappointed to have spent so much money on it originally or happy they skipped the game entirely. Other replies are more generally targeted at the business practices of AAA game development, specifically the increase in price from $59.99 to $69.99 with the launch of the new generation of consoles, and how games must earn that increase price point.
Regardless of the intent, the discussions presented by Battlefield 2042 being $4.99 are good food for thought as DICE looks to improve the game. For those who think that $4.99 is still too high for the game, it makes one wonder if Battlefield 2042 could be a successful free-to-play title like Fortnite or Apex Legends. Halo Infinite took the free-to-play plunge and while its had its struggles with monetization, the gameplay itself has been enough for many people to keep playing.
Battlefield 2042 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.