While it initially had a decent amount of hype behind it,Battlefield 2042became one of the biggest disappointments of last year. The game released to mostly negative reviews from critics and has been outright rejected by even the most hardcoreBattlefieldfans, who have abandoned it to return to older titles likeBattlefield 1andBattlefield 5instead. There are numerous reasons why people don’t likeBattlefield 2042, and it seems EA is pinning at least part of the blame onHalo Infinite.
In a report by Tom Henderson on Xfire detailing a recent “Town Hall” meeting call at EA, chief operating officer Laura Miele discussed various reasons whyBattlefield 2042flopped. One of the reasons Miele presented was thesurprise launch ofHalo Infinitemultiplayer. Miele claimed thatBattlefield 2042was “stable” and that “early critical reception was good,” according to the report, but that things took a turn when the game was being compared toHalo InfiniteasHalowas more polished and didn’t have nearly as many bugs.
RELATED:Battlefield 2042 Falls to Lowest Steam Player Count Yet
Besides blamingBattlefield 2042’s poor receptiononHalo Infinite, Miele pointed to other reasons why the game has struggled. Miele pointed to the outdated Frostbite engine, which Henderson reports took 18 months of development time to prepare forBattlefield 2042. Miele also said that development problems stemming from employees working from home also stymiedBattlefield 2042’s potential.
Developing a triple-A video game during a pandemic is an unprecedented challenge, and it does make sense thatBattlefield 2042was being held back by its engine. However, some may take issue with EA trying to put the blame onHalo Infinitefor being a more polished game and therefore taking some of the shine offBattlefield 2042. The argument could be made that EA should never have releasedBattlefield 2042in its current state at all, as consumers should expect their $70 games to be polished at launch.
EA plans to continue supportingBattlefield 2042for now, but it’s hard to see how the game can rebound from this. Fans have started apetition demandingBattlefield 2042refundsthat has over 200,000 signatures at the time of this writing, and the game’s player count continues to dwindle. It’s possible EA could bring players back bymakingBattlefield 2042free-to-play, but that would likely greatly upset those who paid money for the game at launch.
Battlefield 2042’s Specialistsand other things core to its gameplay seem like they would be very difficult to remove, yet they are some of the things that players take most issue with. Other poorly-received games have made miraculous comebacks over the years, so it’s too early to countBattlefield 2042out, but it has a significantly steep hill to climb for sure.
Battlefield 2042is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
