Despite Battlefield 2042 only being released late last year, the game is already in serious trouble. Its woes and problems are extensive and have been well documented by critics and players alike. As a live service game, one which was supposed to have a shelf life that could rival other live service first-person shooters like Call of Duty: Warzone and Apex Legends, it has fallen far from the mark, represented clearly with its ever-declining place on the steam game charts.
With servers populated by bots and players reportedly unable to find games across all platforms of Battlefield 2042, DICE has no doubt seen that player retention is only going to get worse and, as result, has shared a roadmap of sorts that attempts to show what players can expect in terms of community and player feedback implementation. While a positive development, it has caused doubt and concern in the community due to the scope of what it has promised. With rumors that a new Battlefield game has entered pre-production despite the plans to incorporate player feedback into Battlefield 2042, the future of the current game is unclear.
A Long Road Ahead
When dealing with live-service games, even from AAA publishers and development teams, there is no guarantee anymore that they will succeed. The market for live services, particularly those from popular franchises, is massive. When there's a crowded market, only those that make consistent and regular updates to an already solid foundation tend to succeed and thrive. Battlefield 2042 does not have that luxury. It will not have a major game update of any kind, such as the addition of maps, weapons, or even a storefront, until Season 1 arrives in the summer. Battlefield 2042's foundation is far from solid, with technical and gameplay issues that were present on release still plaguing the game today.
This combination is troublesome for a game meant to have multiple seasons and consistent content updates to keep things fresh. But it is amplified when there's no reason to come back to the game even if players are willing to put up with the lack of content and technical liabilities. In-game challenges remain few and far apart, most if not all players have either switched off from the game or earned and leveled up all the weapons. Those rewards players can aim for, such as Battlefield 2042's controversial tactical beanie, give no incentive to work towards. Similarly, 2042 has no overarching narrative or storyline to keep players invested in its lore, further limiting retention.
Echoes of Anthem
If a new Battlefield game is in development, it could indicate that the response to feedback and its slow implementation is occurring to satisfy obligations to those who pre-ordered the game - not to salvage it. With the delay to Season 1 to early summer, this theory does hold weight - but there's no indication that it's true.
However, EA is no stranger to the current scenario. Anthem was a game that had solid foundations but required a massive overhaul, something that the developers originally committed to with the Anthem 2.0 roadmap. However, the roadmap to 2.0 was eventually scrapped in favor of the reallocation of resources to new projects, despite positive community reception on where it could be heading.
That's not to say that 2042 will go down this road. Other games such as No Mans Sky have turned things around in spectacular fashion, and Battlefield titles are notorious for taking a year or so to reach their full potential, with nearly all suffering rough launches in some form or fashion. Still, the signs are there, and with a player base that is now more interested in playing older Battlefield games, such as the ever-popular Battlefield 3, the publisher may want to cut its losses and turn things around by simply making a new game.
Doubling Down
The opposite concern is that DICE is looking to double down on 2042's formula in this new game and try to properly emulate the success of its competitors, which would alienate and majorly disappoint fans of Battlefield. The introduction of the specialist system and the hazard zone mode, both poorly received, have had fans speculate that DICE was chasing trends instead of looking back at what made the previous entries into the franchise great.
The Ghost Recon franchise is a good example of this, with recent reactions to its X Defiant hero-shooter title being so poor they had to rebrand it entirely. By looking at the current market and where video games in general are heading, there's no guarantee that a new Battlefield game is looking to return to the franchises' roots, as it could instead double down on the concept of specialists and battle royale-type modes. If the implementation of community feedback is not enough to satiate fans and save 2042, the new game may further take away any hopes fans have for the series.
Rebuilding a Franchise
This creates a catch-22 scenario for Battlefield 2042 as a whole. Fans are having to wait a long time compared to other live service titles for major changes to the game before they start playing it again, and those changes are not guaranteed to be implemented at any particular date, or even at all. Those fans that have given up on Battlefield 2042 and look forward to a new game with the hopes it will be everything 2042 is not could have their hopes and expectations disappointed by an even harder pivot to what DICE was rumored to originally be trying to execute with 2042.
While a new Battlefield game supposedly being in the works doesn't mean the death of Battlefield 2042, it is concerning. DICE admitted recently that valuable lessons had been learned, but that doesn't mean those lessons will be implemented in 2042. There's no denying it raises a huge number of questions and potential issues for fans hoping to see 2042 live up to the high expectations that were set for it. However, until fans understand more of what this new Battlefield game is and the direction it's taking with the franchise, there's no guarantee that Battlefield 2042 will not suffer because of it.
Battlefield 2042 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.