Electronic Arts CEO promises an ‘ambitious’ Battlefield — but it’s fallen short of its ambitions before

The next Battlefield game was again name-checked by Electronic Arts chief executive Andrew Wilson in the company’s most recent earnings call with investors. Though he teased it as “one of the most ambitious projects in our history,” fans have heard that line before, especially before the launch of its most recent entry in the series, Battlefield 2042.

For the record, Wilson told listeners:

This is not just one of our top priorities, it is also one of the most ambitious projects in our history. We have brought together the very best team, coupled with the resources and technology they need, to deliver an epic Battlefield experience.

Rewind to 2021. Electronic Arts pulled Criterion Games off its speciality — the Need For Speed racing franchise — and put it on Battlefield supporting EA DICE.  Laura Miele, EA’s studios chief said “We have a great game and some incredible potential with this game.”

That manifested with the November 2021 launch of Battlefield 2021, a multiplayer-only take on the military shooter that launched with multiple day-one bugs and other problems that kept staff in the office over holiday weekends to fix them. Intended to be a live-service game, its first season of content did not begin until June 2022.

What happened with Battlefield 2042?

Though professional critics were somewhat forgiving, fans torched it in Steam reviews, and its player count suffered badly as a result. The last season of content wrapped up in April; fan reaction ranged from indifference to feeling abandoned. Respawn Entertainment founder Vince Zampella, whose creative credits include the original Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Apex Legends, was assigned to right Battlefield’s ship in 2022.

In May 2022, Wilson said that EA DICE was “rethinking the development process from the ground up.” In August 2023, Wilson promised investors that EA had a “reimagination” of the shooter franchise in store.

Four studios are now working on the game: EA DICE, Criterion, Motive, and Ripple Effect.

The next Battlefield does not have a title or a release date. Competitor Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launches Oct. 25 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.

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