EA and DICE releasedBattlefield 2042to significant blowback towards the end of last year, and many fans have yet to return to the game despite receiving several updates. Even thoughBattlefield 2042has been the source of multiple controversies since its November launch, DICE has confirmed that it remains dedicated toBattlefield 2042.
During a recent interview with Games Industry Biz, DICE Chief Rebecka Coutaz clarified some details about the studio prior toBattlefield 2042’s launch, the overall response from players, and how the team has improved the FPS since. Among the problems with the community thatBattlefield 2042ran into on launch include negative Steam reviews and review bombing on Metacritic that accused the buggy game of being unplayable due to several in-game issues. Although this may have affected early sales ofBattlefield 2042, DICE isn’t giving up on the live-service title and will be focusing on improving the title for some time before moving on to the next installment.
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Many DICE developers will continue to add to andfixBattlefield 2042through content updatesand hotfix patches. According to Coutaz, some internal shuffling may have resulted in a development lull as leaders like General Manager Oskar Gabrielson, Head of Design Fawzi Mesmar, and Head of Content Johannes Soderqvist left DICE aroundBattlefield 2042’s launch. Coutaz has stated that the work that has been done onBattlefield 2042Season 1 has resulted in positive fan feedback and team morale is up lately after DICE took a step back to see what was working and what wasn’t.
Rebecka Coutaz credits many of the positive strides DICE has taken lately to the team’s work in the last five or six months, withBattlefield 2042Season 1accounting for a lot of the improvement to the game. Coutaz stated that DICE wants to improve core gameplay above adding toBattlefield 2042because the developer was disappointed with the game’s launch in addition to the frustrated fans. “We are only focusing onBattlefield 2042,” said Coutaz. “In three years, we want to be the first-person shooter powerhouse that DICE deserves to be, and that is what we’re going for.”
Given that manyBattlefield 2042critics have purchased the game and since taken a step back, DICE may be able to bring them back with new content with the developer staying focused on the latestBattlefieldtitle. AlthoughBattlefield 5has been consistently more played thanthe recently releasedBattlefield,Battlefield 2042sold nearly 5 million copies in one week. This gives DICE developers a sizable set of players to entice to return with a seasonal update or upon fixing more major issues. Because Rebecka Coutaz referenced the next three years as an opportunity for the DICE team to become an FPS “powerhouse” again, fans that stepped away may return to a better game by the time therumored hero-basedBattlefieldshooter releases.
Battlefield 2042is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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