One of the bigger releases this season, DICE’s Battlefield 2042, is facing some apparent issues. This was somewhat apparent based on the recent open beta, which the developer claimed is from months-old build. A report by insider Tom Henderson on GamingIntel saw two sources claiming this wasn’t quite the case but it also seems that there are larger development troubles inherent behind the scenes.
Both of the sources speaking to Henderson claimed that many issues are due to management which is composed of people who worked on Star Wars Battlefront 2. “Management is allegedly not committed enough to the project, with creative being simply told to do X, Y, and Z. One of these management figures was simply described as a ‘yes man’, and apparently things have ‘been s*&t since.” Any issues that were brought throughout development to management apparently fell on dear ears, “Ultimately creating issues that DICE could have solved earlier in the development process,” as per Henderson.
It also seems that one key aspect of the game that has fans divided, the Specialists, stems from management loving aspects of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019). The studio was encouraged to create something similar, which Henderson admits is unclear, but there was a clear goal to implement the Operators in some fashion. While other design choices and how they take after Call of Duty are still unknown, Henderson does reveal that many content creators for Activision’s franchise were invited to the recent closed beta event.
“A ton of Call of Duty creators (that have never uploaded a Battlefield title before) were invited to the closed beta capture event. A clear sign that management knows what role Call of Duty played in Battlefield 2042’s development. Unfortunately, this choice left hardcore Battlefield creators waiting in the wings of the capture event.”
If that weren’t enough, Henderson also claimed to hear of DICE developers being afraid for the future. “One of the biggest concerns to stem from the Battlefield 2042 beta though, is that some hard-working DICE developers are concerned for their jobs. By all accounts that I know of, rumblings in the studio have started, with some developers already speaking out to close friends at other studios.” Management hasn’t given any indication of layoffs just yet though.
Battlefield 2042 releases on November 19th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5 and PC. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.