It's been a big past few weeks for the Battlefield franchises as EA and DICE gear up for what appears to be the biggest game that the franchise has seen yet. Revealed officially early in June, Battlefield 2042 takes players to the near future where the world is on the brink of catastrophe between all out war, limited resources, and a planet that appears to be fighting back with massive tornadoes and other destructive forces interrupting matches.
A new blog post recently went live delving into even more juicy details such as how the AI will work in filling out servers as well as the ability to customize Battlefield 2042 loadouts and specialists. Still, anticipation continues to rise in advance of EA Play later this month when even more information and gameplay will be shown off. The reveal has even caused older Battlefield games to rise in popularity like Battlefield 4 which saw a massive spike in players which forced DICE to add additional servers to handle the load.
For players who want to jump into some Battlefield action in the remaining months before the upcoming game's release, insider Tom Henderson may have some good news. In a recent Tweet, Henderson advised players to steer clear from purchasing Battlefield 1 as it appears the game will be going free to download next week. With EA Play also happening next week, it's a probably a safe bet that this promotion will coincide with the event in a special announcement.
The other piece to this rumor is that it may only impact PC players, though Henderson isn't completely sure. It would make sense considering how available Battlefield 1 currently is on consoles. For example, PlayStation players can download the game as part of the PS Plus Collection if they're current subscribers. Xbox users which Game Pass Ultimate can snag the game thanks to the EA Play subscription being included in that. Outside of that, Battlefield 1 has been part of Games with Gold as well as countless sales in the past few years so it's likely that many console players already have the game.
While fans will ahve to wait to see if this rumor pans out, Henderson does have a lengthy track record with leaks and rumors especially related to the Battlefield franchise. Prior to the Battlefield 2042 reveal, screenshots of the debut trailer came out early thanks to Henderson's discord, as well as other leaks like audio and gameplay details. Just recently, Henderson even implied that the heavily advertised weather effects get old after a few matches and have been found to ruin the Battlefield experience. With the technical test and beta coming in the next few months, fans will get to see if this opinion is ultimately true or not.
Battlefield 2042 releases on October 22 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.