When EA and DICE released the first-person shooter Battlefield 2042 arrived in late 2021, it represented a nadir for a once proud series.
The game was riddled with bugs from launch, running into the dozens, with maps, visuals, and gameplay affected. All-in-all, it earned the game overwhelmingly negative reviews. Even by the time our review was published in February of 2022, the updates were pouring in in an effort to fix the game.
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Electronic Arts does not want this happening again and is today announcing a plan to ensure it doesn’t. Battlefield Labs will enable fans of the franchise to test the next version of the game during its development.
The initiative is described by EA as “the most ambitious community collaboration in franchise history.” The publisher says the game is “entering a critical phase in development” and it wants gamers on board with a public test.
The video below explaining the initiative reveals the first gameplay from the next, as yet untitled, Battlefield game.
“This game has so much potential,” said Vince Zampella, Head of Respawn & Group GM for EA Studios Organization in a blog post. “To find that potential, with us being pre-alpha, now is the time to test the experiences our teams have been building for our upcoming launch. Battlefield Labs empowers our teams to do that.”
Hopefully Battlefield Labs can ensure a smoother launch experience for gamers and, in the meantime, will allow the developers to work out the problems in real time.
No more half-cooked launches?
In recent years, we’ve seen many developers and publishers push half-baked games out to market. Battlefield 2042 was one of those launches.
It’s good to see that EA is serious about rectifying the mistakes of the past and it wouldn’t be a bad idea for more developers and publishers to adopt this strategy rather than having paying customers act like beta testers when the game goes on sale before its ready..
