Battlefield 2042’s less than stellar performance could prompt EA to make it a free-to-play game instead.
At first, it sounded like EA was generally pleased with how Battlefield 2042 turned out, with the company claiming it to be twice as popular as Battlefield 5.
Insider Tom Henderson, however, says that EA is anything but and is in fact disappointed with the game’s performance, something that is very easy to believe.
Henderson, who previously leaked accurate Battlefield 2042 info before its release, said on Twitter that he has heard EA is ‘looking at all the options’ when it comes to the game’s future.
This includes making Battlefield 2042 free-to-play in some capacity. This certainly isn’t an unprecedented strategy and there are examples of premium games adopting a free-to-play model post-launch and performing better as a result, such as Star Wars: The Old Republic and Fortnite.
EA is reportedly very disappointed with how Battlefield 2042 has performed and is “looking at all the options” when it comes to the title, this is including looking at Free to Play in some capacity.
I’ll have more on this tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/WWuDpstyqS— Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) January 20, 2022
It’s been pretty obvious since launch that Battlefield 2042 hasn’t been quite the success story as EA may claim. Its user reviews on Steam remain overwhelmingly negative, and, at one point, it was the ninth lowest rated game on the platform (it’s now currently 14th).
Only last week, it was discovered that more people are playing Battlefield 5 and Battlefield 1 than the newest entry despite those two games releasing in 2018 and 2016, respectively.
Common criticisms from fans included a lack of certain features present in previous games at launch, as well as the usual bugs and glitches. Developer DICE has issued updates since then, but they clearly haven’t done much to sway peoples’ opinions.
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Most recently, DICE had to remove the Zombie Survival mode from Battlefield 2042 because players were using it to farm XP. The mode was also added only two days after an update to prevent such an occurrence.
Henderson will be sharing more information on EA’s potential plans for the game tomorrow, but time will tell if a free-to-play model is all EA needs to turn Battlefield 2042’s reputation around.
Battlefield 2042 is available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC.
The “Zombie Survival” gamemode has been removed from #Battlefield2042 because it was being used as an XP Farm mode.
The mode was released just two days after an update that was meant to stop Portal XP Farms.
When will this circus show end? pic.twitter.com/AvFQXRgMQy— Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) January 21, 2022
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