After a string of rumours, whispers and leaks EA has finally lifted the veil of the latest Battlefield, seeing the flagship first-person shooter moving away from the historical setting of recent entries to a near-future backdrop – with this year’s model subsequently called Battlefield 2042. In a break from other recent traditions, it’ll also do away with a single-player campaign, and there are no plans for an accompanying battle royale mode.
Battlefield 2042 will instead focus on its multiplayer offering, supporting 128 players on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S and X, while PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game support 64 players. There will also be the option of playing against AI bots, either solo or with a squad of friends.
“I think that’s just something that enables us to really lean into what we are best at,” Battlefield 2042 design director Daniel Berlin told Eurogamer about the lack of a single-player campaign – something that’s been a series mainstay since Battlefield 3. “If you look at the DNA of the studio, what we’ve been doing for so long, we just said you know what, we’re not going to have a traditional single-player campaign this time around, but we’re going to put all that emphasis and all those resources into building depth into the multiplayer. Because that is what we do best.”
