Gaming
Jake Brigstock
Jul 20, 2024
Bang Showbiz - Gaming / VideoElephant
During an earnings call for Electronic Arts, CEO Andrew Wilson said the new Battlefield entry is "going to be another tremendous live service" - and gamers have let out a collective groan on social media.
A live service sees the release of regular new content post-launch, with premium content usually only accessible through a higher subscription tier or payment, to keep players playing the game as long as possible.
The Battlefield franchise was huge in the late 2000s and early 2010s through the Battlefield: Bad Company entries and the third and fourth numbered releases.
It seems fans have been clamouring for games in the series to return to how they were when they were seemingly at their peak - but it appears they've been left disappointed at the latest announcement.
Wilson is reported by Insider Gamingas saying: "This is the largest Battlefield team in franchise history.
"A few weeks ago, I was visiting with the teams, and I couldn't be more excited about what they showed and what we were able to play.
"I've just spent a whole bunch of time with the collective Battlefield team playing what they're building and it is going to be another tremendous live service."
While a live service is fairly common among modern multiplayer games, it doesn't seem the Battlefield community is enthused by this given what happened with Battlefield 2042.
Geoff Keighley, with 1.5m followers on X / Twitter, shared the news on the social media platform and the replies have been mostly negative.
@geoffkeighley Last Battlefield I remember playing was BF1, yeah not everyone liked it but I enjoyed it, it was fun, played it with a few friends, I remember us trying to fly up and jump onto the airship L30s and f around lmao\ud83d\ude02 it was our battlefield in high school and memories were truly made— (@)
Battlefield is EA's competitor to the Call of Duty franchise - it's a multiplayer first-person shooter made by developer Dice where players progress their rank, weapons and battle pass to get better rewards.
Call of Duty has more of an arcade feel whereas Battlefield feels more realistic but it's not without its own high-octane stunts.
Battlefield 2042 released in 2021 and is the latest instalment although EA confirmed in March this year no new seasons would be released as Season 7 came into effect, seemingly so all efforts could be put into developing a new entry.
It's had a bit of a difficult life - at launch, it had a number of bugs and glitches, including the game not being playable altogether, which EA eventually ironed out over the months that followed.
Call of Duty normally gives players a month or two before releasing new content through seasons - but it took Dice seven months to release the first season for Battlefield 2042 while those issues were fixed.
There have been a number of gameplay improvements but after such a tricky launch, it seemed to have lost a lot of players and support - some gamers on social media say there hasn't been a good Battlefield game since Battlefield 1 released in 2016 (Battlefield 5 and Battlefield 2042 have released since then).
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