Where did Battlefield 2042 go wrong? It’s a question many have asked since Battlefield 2042’s near-disastrous launch last year, and Vince Zampella has probably thought about it more than most. The Respawn Entertainment founder was put in charge of Battlefield following last year’s stumbles, and in a new interview with Barron’s, he chalked up Battlefield 2042’s issues to a lack of iteration and polish on new ideas.
“I think they just strayed a little too far from what Battlefield is. They tried to do a couple things that were maybe ambitious: grow the player count etc. I don’t think they spent enough time iterating on what makes that fun. It’s not inherently a bad idea. The way they were set up and the way they executed just didn’t allow them to find the best thing possible.”
Thankfully, the problems of Battlefield 2042 probably won’t carry forward as Zampella promises devs are being given the proper time to make something exciting. That means we likely won’t see our next Battlefield game for a while, but hopefully, it ends up being more of a crowd-pleaser.
“It’s a whole new structure. We’re putting multiple studios together. We’re bringing the best talent together and giving them the time to do something amazing.”
Oh, and yes, whatever Battlefield game is in the works under Zampella will have a single-player campaign…
“Yeah. Absolutely. People love [single-player campaigns]. There are people that play only multiplayer. There are people that play only campaign. They want that story and to be part of an adventure.”
For those who haven’t been keeping up, the next Battlefield will be a co-production between DICE, Ripple Effect Studios (formerly DICE LA), and Ridgeline Games, a new studio recently set up in Seattle by longtime Halo creative director Marcus Lehto. Ridgeline will be working on the story campaign for the new game.
What do you think? Have EA learned their lesson? Will Battlefield return to form under Zampella?
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