Battlefield, DICE’s beloved military shooter known for its renowned multiplayer, is getting a needed shake-up, according to the Head of Respawn Entertainment and General Manager for EA Studios Vince Zampella. And that shake-up involves bringing the series back to basics and scaling back many of the features players didn’t want in the first place.
Zampella revealed the first details of the next Battlefield game in an interview with IGN, including confirmation that it will be set in modern times and sharing the first piece of concept art for the upcoming sequel.
“If you look back to the peak or the pinnacle of Battlefield, it's that Battlefield 3, Battlefield 4 era where everything was modern,” Zampella said. “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.”
Battlefield 4, released in 2013, was the last Battlefield game to take place in the present day. The game was followed up by 2016’s Battlefield 1, which took place during the First World Conflict, 2018’s Battlefield V which took place during the Second World Conflict, and then 2021’s futuristic Battlefield 2042.
The Stockholm-based DICE is removing many seemingly unnecessary additions the series has had in recent years. Zampella says the team is scraping the 128-player matches Battlefield 2042 introduced as “doing the number for the sake of the number doesn't make any sense.”
“We're testing everything around what's the most fun,” he explained. “I'd rather have nice, dense [...], well-designed play spaces. Some of them are really good.”
He says the next game will also abandon the Operators idea that 2042 introduced, which replaced the classic Support, Engineer, Assault, and Recon classes with unique heroes. While the Operators system reflected other popular games like Overwatch and Rainbow Six: Siege, it proved to be a convoluted and unpopular change for DICE. Eventually, the developer would retrofit the operators into the traditional Battlefield classes. But it still felt weird as the operators were clearly designed to be independent of the simplistic roles they were fit into post-launch.
“You have to applaud that effort,” Zampella said. “Not everybody liked it, but you got to try things. It didn't work. It didn't fit. Specialists will not be coming back. So classes are kind of at the core of Battlefield, and we're going back to that.”
It’s been a disappointing few years for Battlefield. Not only has the series been plagued with buggy launches going back to the beloved 2013 game, but the gameplay has also progressively distanced itself from what makes it stand out. Instead of advancing the series’ best ideas, like large-scale destructible environments and emergent moments, it seemed more interested in chasing live service trends, gameplay modes, and changes to multiplayer no one asked for.
In the meantime, games like BattleBit Remastered, which delivers the classic Battlefield experience without any bells and whistles, have come along and found great success felling the void left behind.
Earlier this year, Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson spoke about the next Battlefield and highlighted “cutting-edge Frostbite technology,” “compelling storytelling,” and a “Battlefield universe” connecting multiplayer and single-player experiences. His comments left fans like me concerned about the direction of the franchise, as those aren’t the qualities I look for in a good Battlefield game.
However, Zampella's comments are as if he went out of his way to say everything long-time players want to hear. It’s reassuring that the Swedish developer finally understands that what fans want is much simpler than what’s been given to them for six years now. And maybe this time, they’ll pour their resources into a game that appeals directly to those fans.
The next Battlefield game feels like a reflection of a broader trend gaining steam in the industry. Most players would happily trade an overly ambitious game that’s meant to be the next big all-encompassing title that consumes all their time for something more fun and focused. After going all out with 2042 and missing the mark, a return to sensible design choices players have wanted for 10 years is thankfully in order.
The next Battlefield game sounds like a much-needed return to form. And that is way more exciting than 128-player matches, unique seasonal heroes, or a battle royal mode ever was.
