Summary
WhileActivision’sCall of Dutymight be all the rage at the moment, it wasn’t too long ago thatEA’sBattlefieldseries was neck-and-neck with the first-person shooter for best in class. And while there won’t be a Battlefield this year, we now know a lot about EA’s plans for Battlefield’s return.
In an interview with IGN, Head of Respawn & Group GM for EA Studios Organization, Vince Zampella, shared a plethora of details about the multiplayer shooter, including its return to a modern setting, ditching of specialists and more. It’s an exciting bit of news, and there was even some concept art, too.
Battlefield Is Going Back To Basics
First and foremost, Battlefield will be going back to the modern era, a la Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4. Previously, the series went back in time withBattlefield 1andBattlefield 5before going into the future with the malignedBattlefield 2042.
It seems like that decision wasn’t made lightly, as EA tries to recapture the franchise’s earlier magic. “I mean, if you look back to the peak or the pinnacle of Battlefield, it’s that Battlefield 3… Battlefield 4 era where everything was modern,” Zamepella said. “And I think we have to get back to the core of what Battlefield is and do that amazingly well, and then we’ll see where it goes from there.”
It’s not just the modern setting that the next Battlefield will be returning to, but class-based multiplayer as well. In other words, specialists are out, which should make fans pretty happy. “You have to applaud that effort,” Zampella explained. “Not everybody liked it, but you got to try things. It didn’t work. It didn’t fit. Specialist will not be coming back. So classes are kind of at the core of Battlefield, and we’re going back to that.”
It’s unclear when the next Battlefield will launch, but it likely won’t be anytime soon,as Battlefield was not in EA’s fiscal year 2025 outlook. That period ends in the spring, so preorders could theoretically happen after that. In the interim, though, Zampella says EA is “play testing the game every week.”
As a final note, a community-type program will launch next year, per Zampella. Whether that’s a beta or something greater remains to be seen, but it’s all part of EA’s efforts to rebuild trust within the community. “We have a program that we’re going to announce next year around getting more community in, because that’s kind of the core of what we have to do — get the community back on our side, get that trust back,” he added.
It certainly sounds like EA is doing its darnedest to rectify their past mistakes when it comes to Battlefield. Whether that pays off remains to be seen, but the company is certainly saying the right things for now.
