EA says Battlefield 2042 did not meet expectations, news confirmed in their latest financial earnings call for the third quarter of their current fiscal year.
The news that EA says Battlefield 2042 did not meet expectations comes alongside the news that they’re also going to call off their NFT plans, at least for now.
“We did have a challenge in Q3 as the launch of Battlefield 2042 did not meet expectations,” EA CEO Andrew Wilson said in a transcribed call. “Battlefield 2042 was always an ambitious game and our teams pushed to innovate across many dimensions including massive scale and 128-player matches, new modes, new dynamic gameplay, and more.”
Wilson also talked about the “unanticipated performance issues” that plagued the game during its launch window, noting some of design choices and mechanics didn’t “resonate” with their fanbase.
“Some of the design choices we made with the game also did not resonate with everyone in our community,” Wilson said. “We are fully committed to realizing the full potential of this game and fully committed to our Battlefield fans. We have already implemented a series of major updates to the game, and there is more to be done.”
As mentioned it also seems like Electronic Arts is backing off from their very big enthusiasm for NFT adoption, despite fan pushback. In the call Wilson said the company is “not looking at anything at this juncture.” He added, “I believe that collectability will continue to be an important part of our industry and the games and experiences that we offer our players.”
Despite the noticeable backstep regarding NFTs, Wilson is still optimistic about the future of the platform.
“Whether that’s part of the NFT and the blockchain? Well, that remains to be seen. And I think the way we think about it, is we want to deliver the best possible player experience we can. And so we’re going to — we will evaluate that over time. But right now, it’s not something that we’re driving audience,” he said.
Niche Gamer was also disappointed with Battlefield 2042, as our own review from Necro XIII noted its lack of features, unstable performance not just on PC but consoles of all kinds, and even hacking being a huge issue at least during its launch window.
Battlefield 2042 is available on Windows PC (via the Epic Games Store, Origin, Steam), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
