Battlefield 2042 has had a rough go of it. The Steam player base dropped by 70% within a month of launch, leading some to say that the “game is dying.” It hasn’t caught a break since. Just one day after a Portal zombies mode was added to the game, it was removed due to XP farming. Events like this are leading EA to heavily rethink Battlefield 2042’s position in the market.
Reportedly, the publisher is now considering making the game free-to-play. The report comes from games writer Tom Henderson on Twitter. Henderson’s previous reports include the likes of Dragon Age 4 not releasing in 2022 and Skull & Bones entering internal beta. In this case, the free-to-play possibility is because “EA is reportedly very disappointed with how Battlefield 2042 has performed and is ‘looking at all the options'” for what to do about it. Given the fact that its subreddit — where you’d assume the most diehard fans could find camaraderie — threatened to temporarily shut down due to so much toxic behavior, EA clearly has a big mess to clean up with Battlefield 2042.
Developer DICE is certainly trying to offer make-goods to players. The long-awaited new scoreboard is coming in February, although dataminers claim we won’t be getting the first real season of content until March. While toxicity is never a good thing, the subreddit certainly had plenty to complain about.
The situation is nothing short of a mess for DICE and EA right now. The scramble has resulted in Respawn Entertainment CEO Vince Zampella being named the new head of the Battlefield franchise. Reportedly, the next game in the series could even be a hero shooter — that’s another one from Tom Henderson.
