Electronic Arts’ long-runningBattlefieldfranchise seems to have hit a low point;Battlefield 2042, the latest installment in the series, was met with a considerable amount of backlash from fans when it debuted in November of 2021. Citing a litany of bugs, a concerning dearth of features, and an overall lack of polish, many gamers urged the publisher to refund dissatisfied consumers, anda petition asserting that very sentiment aboutBattlefield 2042recently passed 200,000 signatures.
When it was first revealed during E3 2021,Battlefield 2042looked to be the next evolution in multiplayer FPS gameplay. Ditching the historical settings ofBattlefield 1andBattlefield 5, EA and DICE’s newBattlefieldinstallment recalled shades of the massive modern military conflicts seen inBattlefield 3andBattlefield 4. Unfortunately, though it did return aspects of those games to the series via the new Portal mode,Battlefield 2042was substantially rougher around the edges when compared to previous entries.
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Though DICE has issueda series of bug fixes and patches in the months sinceBattlefield 2042’s launch, the thousands of gamers who have signed the petition aren’t likely to be swayed by minor updates. Alleging that both the publisher and developer did not meet pre-launch promises and that the game is “unplayable,” the strongly-worded stance of petition creator Satoshi Nakamoto—an alias borrowed from the supposed creator of Bitcoin—doesn’t leave much room for negotiation.
Part of the outrage stems from EA’s fairly obtuse refund policies. The publisher’s PC gaming hubOrigin first began issuing refunds back in 2013, but a player may only be granted one if they meet certain requirements. The same could be said of Valve’s Steam, though the outlet’s refund policies tend to be a bit more forgiving. Additionally, those who purchasedBattlefield 2042physically or through third-party marketplaces will have even more hurdles with which to contend should they wish to refund their purchase.
Ultimately, it’s hard to say if this fan-generated refund push will result in any substantial change. DICE has issued statements asserting that major fixes are on the horizon, andBattlefield 2042’s first official season has now been delayed by several months. That’s a fairly big thing for a live-service product to put off, and, should DICE be too slow in delivering updates, what remains of the game’s rapidly-shrinking player base may disappear entirely. In fact, many players have already returned to previousBattlefieldinstallments, causing the player counts of older games likeBattlefield 1andBattlefield 5to have higher concurrent player counts than the series’ newest entry.
Battlefield 2042is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
