With the graphical power that any new Battlefield game from DICE would hold, it was a safe bet that the next title in the military shooter series would not make it to last-generation consoles. The reveal trailer and a press release for Battlefield 2042 relayed that this new game would be a huge technical leap from what came before, including environmental effects, massive maps, and an increased 128 player count. And while the Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and certainly modern gaming PCs are capable of running all of this destruction, can owners of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One still get a taste of it?
Battlefield 2042 will be on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One at launch, but at a cost — per a press release from EA, player count will be reduced to 64 players, and these versions will have “reduced map sizes.” Based on previous cross-generational releases, players can also expect lower resolutions and overall graphical fidelity on the older versions. The reveal and initial press release did not present the possibility of any sort of upgrade path from last generation to the newer consoles, and there is a price difference between the versions, with the PS5 and Xbox Series edition costing more.
While DICE and EA have not confirmed crossplay support as of the Battlefield 2042 official reveal, the limitations of this multiplayer-only title on PS4 and Xbox One would have to rule out any sort of cross-generational play. But as the hopes with any other cross-generational title, DICE is hoping that players with older hardware can still get the same general experience and story as their next-generation counterparts.
