Battlefield 2042 was not as popular as many of the previous Battlefield games, and Vince Zampella thinks he knows why. Zampella, who now works as the overall boss for Battlefield at EA, discussed why the game was less successful than some of the others.
“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,” said Zampella. “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.”
DICE, the company that developed Battlefield 2042, was largely at home due to the pandemic during the development of the game. Rebecka Coutaz, DICE’s new GM, said “It is different to work from home, even though that is the way we’re working now, it took time to adapt.” Coutaz continued and said “And it took time to know how to work well together. Everybody was disappointed–our community, our players, and our team as well. It’s a team that has invested years of their lives into this game. And for that game not to live up to any expectations from the team or from the players, that was tough. We are moving forward and we’ve done a lot of things since then.”
After Battlefield 2042’s release, Vince Zampella was promoted to the overall manager of Battlefield. Zampella discussed how he will handle the next battlefield game and said “We’re putting multiple studios together. We’re bringing the best talent together and giving them the time to do something amazing.”
DICE and EA plan to continue growing Battlefield 2042 and released their most recent big update at the end of August. While the game was not as enjoyed by some fans, the game sold well throughout 2021. Battlefield 2042 finished 2021 as the fifth highest-selling game in the U.S.