The next Battlefield game after the underwhelming Battlefield 2042 will continue to lean on the series’ evolution into a live service offering, the CEO of EA has said, while revealing that the largest development team in the series’ history is currently working on the upcoming shooter.
Andrew Wilson’s comments on the untitled Battlefield game came as part of EA’s latest financials, during which the exec who laid off hundreds of employees – and shut down the studio working on a standalone single-player Battlefield – just months ago while talking up how great everything was going continued to display he’d fail to pass the Voight-Kampff test for human empathy if he tried.
In amongst phrases like “accelerating transformations across the entertainment landscape” and “[taking] proactive steps to further empower our creative leaders by realigning our investments, organization, and portfolio” – plus the corporate bingo of “tailwinds”, “revenue streams”, “monetization” and “leverage” – Wilson seemingly acknowledged that Battlefield 2042 hadn’t seen the smoothest reception.
“With each immersive, action-packed season of Battlefield 2042, players have made it clear that they wanted an even deeper experience,” he said. “Our teams have listened to the community, have learned valuable lessons, and are driving to the future.”
In short, then, this one should be better than the last one. To that end, EA is apparently throwing more developers at the next Battlefield than any previous game, with Wilson saying “this is the largest Battlefield team in franchise history”.
That team will span studios Motive, DICE, Ripple Effect and Criterion – after the majority of Need for Speed studio Criterion were pulled over to work on Battlefield last year and the devs behind the Dead Space remake at Motive joined them earlier this year – who Wilson said are building “a Battlefield universe across connected multiplayer and single-player experiences”.
Sounds like the series’ steps into being a live service game will continue apace, then – though the implication of a “connected” single-player offering raises more than a few questions after the shuttering of Ridgeline and heavy multiplayer focus of the last few games, especially as Wilson insisted “compelling storytelling” is part of the formula.
“A few weeks ago, I was visiting with the teams and I couldn’t be more excited about what they showed and what we were able to play,” Wilson said.
No word on when we’ll be able to see or play what’s next for Battlefield, but with Apex Legends now having made close to three and a half billion dollars – per the same financial report – and even 2042 recovering from its wonky launch to extend its planned run of four seasons into seven, it’s perhaps little surprise EA plan to follow the money.