EA And DICE’s Battlefield Series Of Games Is Now 20 Years Old

Screenshot: Saving Private Ryan

On September 10, 2002, publishers Electronic Arts and a relatively unknown development called DICE released a multiplayer shooter called Battlefield 1942. In the 20 years since then everyone involved has had quite a ride.

The game, which not only featured infantry but also allowed players to control vehicles, stood out for its scale and variety. I avoid pretty much every other online shooter – I’m talking about infantry-only Call of Duty and Counter-Strike – like the plague, but I’ve always played Battlefield because I love the way he lets me spawn as a sniper, get killed and then guess what, you know what, I’ll then drive a tank, and maybe drive a fighter after that.

battlefield 1942 introduction

In the 20 years since, the series has changed a lot. The number of players has increased – 2042 has maps supporting 128 at a time, which is problematic but also amazing – while the setting has shifted to Vietnam, WWI, the far future and vice versa. poured. there were games where you play as a cop instead of a soldier, and spin-off games that were heavy on history. And that’s just the Battlefield series; DICE also released two Star Wars games around this time that are Battlefield in all but name.

And yet, that hasn’t really changed at all either. From Battlefield 1942 to Battlefield 2042, the basic premise of each game has remained largely the same. Two teams compete on a large map, trying to seize control points and kill players on the opposing side. You can use a variety of infantry weapons, or you can get behind the wheel of a vehicle, and some of those vehicles are slow and carry passengers, while others are fast and don’t.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 – Intro Video – HD

Each game had its issues, some technical and some design-related, and each game pissed off some veteran fans while attracting new players. As I pointed out in my 2042 reviewa Battlefield game suffering from a poor launch and then recovering through patches and updates is almost a meme at this point, something we’re experiencing in real time again as 2042 slowly recovers from its own disastrous exit.

On an occasion like this it’s natural to look back on the series and remember the good times—something DICE have marked this week with…free goodies for 2042 players—but 2042’s woes and the direction the series is headed in have also been cause for concern with players when it comes to Battlefield’s future.

Battlefield games were for the longest time seen as standalone video games, which you bought, played for a few years then moved on from when the next one came out. It’s clear now though, in this age of season passes andlive service games– that DICE (or maybe just their publisher overlords at EA) see a slightly different path for Battlefield, one where games are kept alive for years while fans are encouraged to constantly spend on things like expansions and cosmetic content. A push that, when viewed as part of similar industry moves in other games and genres, has become both exhausting and a bone of contention for many gamers.

It’s not like the show itself is under threat; indeed it was only last week that EA announced that a whole new studio is working on a whole new Battlefield “experience”, while tweeting that they were “completely convinced about the future of Battlefield!”. But it’s still a troubling trend, and one that has people rightly worried about what the next Battlefield game might look like.

BATTLEFIELD 1942 Full Game Walkthrough – No Commentary (Battlefield 1942 Full Game) 2020

I don’t know if anyone would have thought in 2002 that this series would continue in 2022. And I’m sure no one could have seen the twists it took in the decades that followed. So any attempt to predict the future of Battlefield would likely be equally futile.

Perhaps season passes and cosmetic microtransactions will lead the series into the dirt. Maybe DICE will learn from the things people hated about 2042 – not bugs or things that could be fixed, but fundamental economic decisions like introducing specialists – and make amends with the next game. . Who knows! We can only wait and see, just as we have for the past 20 years.

In the meantime, I’m going to spend some time today playing Battlefield 2042 from 2021 so I can enjoy a remake of a map (Caspian Border) from Battlefield 3 from 2011, which is pretty much a celebration of the Most fitting 20th anniversary I can think of.