You Can Sign Up To Play The Next Battlefield, Right Now
Bringing back the feeling.
Battlefield is coming back in 2025. And players will be able to see what this soft reboot is all about for themselves very soon.
Developers DICE, Criterion, Ripple Effect, and Motive, now known collectively as Battlefield Studios according to a developer diary published Monday, gave the public a significant update on its next game’s development, along with a look at how they collectively plan to avoid the many pitfalls of the last two games in the series.
One of those ways is taking a page from the Call of Duty handbook, splitting the game’s various parts among multiple studios. DICE will be working on all elements relevant to the game’s multiplayer component, including how classes, squads, vehicles, and equipment are balanced. It’s also working on technical aspects of the game including level destruction, an important part of the game’s identity.
Motive, the maker behind the underrated Dead Space remake, is focused on making the game’s multiplayer maps and single-player campaign. Burnout and Need For Speed developer Criterion is also assisting the campaign. Ripple Effect’s part in the game is the vaguest of the four but its leadership says it’s working on aspects that will “open Battlefield up to a whole group of new players.”
“Never before had this many teams and talents dedicated to the development of Battlefield,” DICE and Criterion General Manager Rebecka Coutaz said.
At a time when bloated development costs and teams so often lead to layoffs if expectations aren’t met (the most recent example of which just happened with one of Battlefield publisher Electronic Arts’ most legendary studios), throwing more talent at the game isn’t as reassuring as the reveal makes it out to be. However, what is reassuring is game designer and head of EA Studios Vince Zampella promising that this super conglomerate of developers will be getting the time to cook.
Both Battlefield V and Battlefield 2042 were released practically unfinished. While they weren’t bad games, modes being rife with bugs right from the start tainted the life cycle of each. These bugs, along with significant and unnecessary changes to the multiplayer’s core gameplay made them both disappointing compared to beloved entries like Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 4.
What also looked promising were the glimpses of gameplay the trailer showcased. The game appears to be back in modern warfare. The focus on environmental destruction harkened back to the series’ golden era. The return to a contemporary setting after the near future of 2042 and WWII also feels like the refresh the series needs right now.
Early gameplay footage suggests Battlefield Studios understands the assignment.
Doubling down on avoiding the buggy state of the last two games, Battlefield Studios is kicking off what it calls Battlefield Labs. Labs is a pre-alpha playtest that fans and curious newcomers can sign up for right now. Labs is meant to give the developers a way to “make sure what we have is really fun and polished.”
Combat, maps, destruction, modes, and new features will all be tested during the test. It’s an effort to avoid having to make sweeping changes to the game the same way Battlefield 2042 needed to throughout its rocky seven-season run.
This isn’t the first time an EA-published game has taken this approach. The fourth, free-to-play Skate game, which was first revealed in 2022, has been playable for years now with actual fans who signed up for its playtests helping the developers improve the final product.
While Battlefield is a completely different kind of franchise from Skate, it's a pretty foolproof way to avoid the launch issues of the past. Marvel Rivals, one of the biggest multiplayer games going today, did similar stress tests before launching to great success.
Battlefield is following in the footsteps of EA’s other big reboot, Skate.
It’s nice to see EA and the developers working on the next Battlefield finally grasp what it is fans have been looking for since 2013. While 2016’s Battlefield 1 was an excellent entry in the series, the series has struggled to capture the magic of the multi-terrain, large-scale battles earlier games set in contemporary times were known for. While efforts were made to translate the series into a live service powerhouse, including Battle Royal modes and a switch to an Overwatch-style hero system, these attempts muddied what fans were actually looking for.
Here’s to hoping the next Battlefield can return the game to its old heights.
