Battlefield 2042


Battlefield 2042 is a 2021 online-only multiplayer first-person shooter game developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts. The seventeenth installment in the Battlefield series, it was released on November 19, 2021, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Unlike previous games in the series, Battlefield 2042 is solely multiplayer and does not have a single-player campaign. It is also the first installment to feature support for cross-platform play. It was the final Battlefield game to be released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One platforms.
The game received mixed reviews from critics and a negative reception from players for its technical issues, lack of features, and certain changes to the gameplay. The game failed to meet the sales expectations of Electronic Arts. A new Battlefield installment, titled Battlefield 6, developed by Battlefield Studios, was released on October 10, 2025.

Gameplay

Similar to its predecessors, Battlefield 2042 is a multiplayer-focused first-person shooter. As the game is set in the near future, it features futuristic weapons and gadgets like deployable turrets and drones, as well as vehicles that players can control. Players can request a vehicle air-drop to any location. The game introduced a "Plus" system which allows players to customize their weapons on the spot. The class system is significantly overhauled and removes the four defined classes from previous games; instead, players can assume control of a specialist who falls under the four traditional Battlefield gameplay classes of Assault, Engineer, Medic, and Recon. These characters can wield any of the weapons and gadgets that a player has unlocked. Each operator has their own unique skills and gadgets. For instance, one of the specialists, Emma "Sundance" Rosier, is equipped with a wingsuit, while another, Maria Falck, is equipped with a healing pistol. There are extreme weather effects such as tornadoes and sandstorms which may affect gameplay. The game featured seven maps at launch, including 'Breakaway', the largest map in the history of the Battlefield franchise.
The game has three main gameplay modes. "All-Out Warfare" encompasses "Breakthrough" and "Conquest", two staple modes of the series. In Conquest, two teams combat against each other to capture control points; once all control points in a sector are captured, the team controls said sector. In Breakthrough, one team must try to capture another team's control points, while another team must defend them. Both modes can be played with and against AI-controlled players. The PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S versions support matches with up to 128 players, whereas the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions support up to 64 players. For the first time in the series, Battlefield 2042 features support for cross-platform play with the PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S versions. While the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions also support the feature, it is restricted to only players on the two aforementioned platforms.
The second main mode included in the game is a community-driven platform called "Battlefield Portal". Portal allows players to create customized multiplayer modes and features select maps from past Battlefield games such as Battlefield 1942, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and Battlefield 3. In addition, players can modify core gameplay elements such as health, weapon loadouts, and movement through a web-based scripting application.
The third mode is a cooperative multiplayer mode called "Hazard Zone". In this mode, players are divided into teams, and they must compete with each other to retrieve and extract data drives from the debris of fallen satellites. These data drives are guarded by enemy combatants controlled by AI-controlled players. Players earn "dark market credits" after successfully extracting a data drive. These credits can be spent on purchasing new weapons and upgrades in this mode.

Synopsis

Setting and characters

Battlefield 2042 takes place 22 years after the events of Battlefield 4. Unlike previous installments, it does not have a single-player campaign. Instead, the story is told through multiplayer gameplay. Decades of devastation caused by collapsing economies, rising sea levels and broken alliances come to a peak in 2040 when a Kessler syndrome event occurs, causing 70% of orbiting satellites to crash to Earth. The resulting permanent global blackout causes tensions between the United States and Russia to skyrocket, with war breaking out by the year 2042.
Outside of multiplayer gameplay, the story is also told on Electronic Arts' official website for Battlefield 2042. A standalone short film titled Exodus, which depicts events leading up to the War of 2042 and features returning Battlefield 4 character Irish, premiered on August 12, 2021, via Battlefields YouTube channel.
The 10 specialists announced were:
  • Webster Mackay, a former Canadian soldier who is agile on his feet and uses a grappling hook to traverse the landscape.
  • Maria Falck, a German medic who has a pistol that shoots healing darts and can revive teammates to full health.
  • Wikus "Casper" Van Daele, a South African ghillie suit-wearing sniper.
  • Pyotr "Boris" Guskovsky, a Russian combat engineer who can place sentry guns.
  • Kimble "Irish" Graves, a former United States Marine who can defend his teammates with a deployable bulletproof shield or an APS.
  • Navin Rao, a skilled Indian hacker who can bring down enemy networks.
  • Santiago "Dozer" Espinoza, a tough Mexican soldier who can tank damage.
  • Emma "Sundance" Rosier, a French aerial specialist skilled with explosives who uses their wingsuit to fly around.
  • Ji-Soo Paik, a South Korean whose abilities allow her to spot enemies with ease.
  • Constantin "Angel" Anghel, a Romanian who can revive his teammates with full ammunition quickly and call in loadout drops.
New specialists were added every season from season 1 onwards, with season 4 introducing the last specialist to the game. Specialists introduced in post-launch patches include:
  • Ewelina Lis, a Polish special force soldier who is equipped with a rocket launcher that shoots remote-controlled projectiles. She can also highlight the damaged enemy vehicles on the player's screen with a red overlay.
  • Charlie Crawford, a former British MI6 agent who also moonlighted as an arms dealer for the Dark Market organization. He can deploy a stationary minigun, as well as refill his squadmates' gadget ammunition when reviving them.
  • Rasheed Zain, an Egyptian security expert who can use an airburst launcher to flush out enemies behind cover while recovering health after defeating an enemy.
  • Camila Blasco, a Spanish reconnaissance agent who specializes in ambush and infiltration with a device that can scramble enemy systems.

    Development

The game is developed by series developer DICE in Sweden, with Ripple Effect Studios, EA Gothenburg, and Criterion Games assisting development. It has the largest development team for a Battlefield game, and Criterion had to put the production of the next Need for Speed game on hold in order to assist DICE. Unlike previous installments in the series, the game does not have a traditional single-player campaign. This allowed DICE to allocate more resources to develop the multiplayer portion, which was considered to be the studio's area of expertise. Instead, the story is told through the specialists, which are named and fully-voiced characters who have their own stories and perspective. The narrative was described as "evolving" as new operators and locations would be added to the game post-release. While the narrative of the game depicts a world ravaged by climate apocalypse, DICE added that the game was not a commentary on climate change and the team only chose this setting for "gameplay reasons".
As each match can now accommodate more players, the team had significantly expanded the size of the maps. However, instead of simply creating huge maps, the locations in the game were designed based on the idea of "clustering" in order to funnel players towards a particular direction where they can engage with other players. Daniel Berlin, the design director of the game, described the maps as "several smaller maps stitched together". The decision to include artificial intelligence for the All-out Warfare mode was made early during the game's development as the team believed that it would be a good entry point for beginners. Ripple Effect, formerly DICE Los Angeles, led the development of Battlefield Portal. The game runs on the latest iteration of the Frostbite engine.
A short work-in-progress demonstration of the game was shown at the 2020 EA Play Live event, teasing large scale battles and detailed facial animations. The game was announced on June 9, 2021. An open beta took place from October 6 to 9, 2021, ahead of the game's launch on November 19, 2021, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The launch was delayed from its original October 22 release date due to impacts from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Marketing

The game's first trailer was released on June 9, 2021; it featured a remix of Mötley Crüe's "Kickstart My Heart" by 2WEI. The trailer was noted for including in its climatic moment a "rendezook" - a classic Battlefield trick shot whereupon during a dogfight, a player ejects from their jet, shoots down their pursuer using a rocket launcher while airborne, and then re-enters their jet.

Post-launch content

EA plans to support the game extensively with downloadable content after launch; Battlefield 2042 utilizes the battle pass model. Gameplay content would be free for all players, whereas players who purchased the battle pass would receive additional cosmetic items. Before the release of Season 1, DICE released several updates for the game; Update 4.1 removed the 128-player Breakthrough mode, which was deemed to be too chaotic.
, DICE had released a total of seven seasons. The last Specialist was added in Season 4, and DICE announced on April 9, 2024 that Season 7 would be the last official season, but it will continue to maintain the game. Numerous different limited-time modes were made available during the game's update cycle, most notably a limited-time crossover based on Dead Space. Following the conclusion of seasonal updates, the game began to offer previous battle pass items in the in-game store and transitioned to a "best of" playlist system, offering numerous different variants of the game's multiplayer modes. Leading up to the release of Battlefield 6, the game received a final update that added Iwo Jima, a returning map from previous Battlefield titles, new weapons, a battle pass, and numerous changes to equipment. Progression through the battle pass rewards players with items that can be used in Battlefield 6.