Battlefield 2042 going free-to-play, EA ‘very disappointed’ with performance

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Industry insider Tom Henderson claims that EA is not happy with Battlefield 2042 fiscal performance and are considering making it free-to-play.

Battlefield 2042 is one of the biggest failures in gaming history, especially for a triple-A game coming from one of the best developers with the financial backing of a behemoth like EA — well — investors aren’t happy with the performance of the game and they are now considering other options moving forward, even making the game free-to-play.

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The Battlefield 2042 player base has plummeted nearly 95% on Steam alone since the game launches just two months ago. Since November, 2021, DICE’s first-person-shooter game has been bleeding thousands of players each day.

Popular YouTuber Charles White Jr, better known as Moist Critical online, called it one of the worst games of 2021 and urged people not to buy it.

“The game wasn’t ready, and I guess I was naïve enough to think that,” Charles White Jr said in regards to the games shoddy launch. “At this point, there would be steps in the right direction to get the game to where it should be but it’s still not…”

“This is perhaps the most broken launches for a multiplayer experience in quite some time,” he added before encouraging his friends to avoid it at all costs,” he added.

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“It’s in a laughably horrible, horrible state and I can’t recommend this game to anyone because I can no longer see this game getting any better.”

In addition to the many gamebreaking bugs that plagued the game at launch, and still haven’t been resolved, DICE were called out for vilifying their consumers by calling them “toxic” and saying that their demands to have a working game with key multiplayer features such as voice chat and a scoreboard “brutal expectations.”

EA/DICE’s handling of the situation has lead to hundreds of thousands people abandoning the game and demanding refunds for a “broken and unplayable game.”

Although the consumer did not adhere to the respective return conditions, both Sony and Steam Support have provided full refunds for Battlefield 2042 in some instances.

Now even more people may seek a refund if EA decides to make Battlefield 2042 a free-to-play game a la Fortnite, which is still one of the most profitable games after 5 years.

Battlefield 2042 graphics glitch (free-to-play)
Battlefield 2042 to go free-to-play but all these bugs need to be fixxed.

EA is said to be “very disappointed” with how Battlefield 2042 has done in terms of sales and engagement. The company is reportedly exploring other avenues to bolster the player base and monetise the game.

“EA is reportedly very disappointed with how Battlefield 2042 performed and is ‘looking at all the options’ when it comes to the title, this is including at looking at Free to play to some capacity,” Tom Henderson, industry journalist, stated in a Tweet.

As of now, there’s little-to-no information about what EA means by “some capacity.” It looks like EA are interesting in going the Fortnite route and making some game modes free-to-play while making profit of cosmetics, taunts and dances. However, we won’t know what EA’s plans are until they make an official announcement.

Regardless, DICE still have a load of work cut out for them just to get the game up-to-scratch and fully playable. Features such as cross-platform voice chat and scoreboards, among plenty of bug fixes, have been promised but are not likely to be patched in until at least March, 2022.

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