Electronic Arts has shared the first details about the upcoming untitled Battlefield, as well as showed the first concept art of the game. The company said that its events will take place in a modern setting and hinted at a release window of 2025. This was reported by IGN.
Judging by the concept art, the game will be set somewhere in Europe, and the gameplay will probably have elements of naval and helicopter combat. In addition, the game may have natural disasters, but this may be just part of the art.
Vince Zampella, the head of Respawn, who took over the role of overseeing the series in early 2024, said that with the next game, the developers are returning to the core of what Battlefield is and taking the third and fourth installments, which took place in the modern setting, as a basis.
Zampella also said that the 128-player mode in 2042 was fun, but it didn’t make sense to make such a mode just for the sake of numbers, so the next game will only have a 64-player mode.
“Yeah, the 128 player, did it make it more fun? Like…doing the number for the sake of the number doesn’t make any sense. We’re testing everything around what’s the most fun. So like you said, the maps, once they get to a certain scale, become different. It’s a different play space, and I think you have to design around that. So we are designing something that is more akin to previous Battlefields. I’d rather have nice, dense, really nice, well-designed play spaces. Some of them are really good. I can’t wait for you to see some of them,” Zampella said.
Zampella added that the specialists introduced in Battlefield 2042 were something new and the team should be commended for their efforts, but players did not like them, so they will be abandoned in the next game. Instead, the developers will return to classes.
Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson said that the next game in the series is the company’s “most ambitious project in history.” To confirm his words, it is worth noting that four studios are involved in the work on the new project – DICE, Motive, Ripple Effect, and Criterion.
“Yeah, it’s definitely betting bigger on Battlefield. It’s going in and expanding what Battlefield is. We have to have the core. The core Battlefield players know what they want. They’ve been with us forever, they’ve been amazing supporters. We need to earn their trust back and get them back on our side. And then it’s expanding out and getting more players into the universe and seeing what we can do, so when you want a different experience, you don’t have to leave Battlefield,” Zampella said.
In addition, Vince Zampella said that Electronic Arts has no plans to develop the franchise in other directions, such as movie adaptations, TV series, or anime, as is customary with large and popular series. However, if the right opportunity arises, they will definitely take advantage of it, and certain meetings are being held for this purpose.
In conclusion, Zampella said that Electronic Arts is conducting playtests of the next Battlefield on a weekly basis and plans to launch a community program next year, but did not go into details. When asked about the possibility of a release on PlayStation 5 Pro and potentially on Nintendo Switch 2, Zampella said that “we’ll see.”
Earlier it was reported that the largest team in the history of the franchise is working on the next game in the Battlefield series. In addition, the game may feature “the most realistic destruction in the industry”, and rumors have been circulating about a possible release in 2025 and a free battle royale mode similar to Call of Duty: Warzone.
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