To call Battlefield 2042 “beleaguered” would be something of an understatement: Readers will recall that the game released to some pretty low player counts and sales, resulting in an admittance that the shooter didn’t meet expectations in a quarterly earnings report. Meanwhile, angry players came together to petition for refunds from EA while the devs promised a host of features in its first season, which was detailed in February, projected to release in early 2022, but then delayed to a summer release.
Summer has arrived, and sure enough, so has Season One: Zero Hour, which introduces a new map called Exposure, a new specialist described as a “vehicle killer expert,” new weapons and gear, and a pair of stealth helicopters to pilot. There’s also the usual new battle pass for players to climb.
Naturally, the length of time it’s taken for the new season to launch has raised questions about what’s going on at developer DICE. According to reporting from Giantbomb’s Jeff Grubb, the developer is in “abandon ship” mode, with a “skeleton crew” working on BF2042 while the majority of the studio focuses in on the next iteration of the shooter franchise. “The skeleton crew is working to pump that stuff out the fastest and the cheapest it possibly can,” says Grubb. “The real core crew of Battlefield developers are already working on [the new game].”
EA has since come out to deny the suggestions made by Grubb, claiming that there’s “a significant team across studios focused on evolving and improving the Battlefield 2042 experience for our players” and that EA is “committed to the future of Battlefield 2042 and [their] areas of focus for the game.”
To the game’s credit, the population has seen a spike thanks to the new season, while a subreddit for the game is generally effusive, with a number of posts praising the new Exposure map, the new vehicles, and some other additions to the game’s quality-of-life, though there are still a few goofy moments to be had.
