EA’s CEO remains confident in Battlefield 2042’s future, especially with Respawn CEO Vince Zampella in charge.
During a recent earnings call with investors, EA was unsurprisingly asked about the current status of Battlefield 2042. Players were left unimpressed when it launched and, in the five months since then, the subsequent updates have done little to win disgruntled players back or retain the ones it still had.
While there’s been talk that developer DICE has already moved on to a brand-new Battlefield, EA CEO Andrew Wilson tried to assure investors that Battlefield 2042 isn’t being abandoned.
‘We take a long view here. This is one of the great franchises of our industry, built by one of the great teams in the industry, and our expectations are it’s going to continue to grow and be a really important part of our portfolio for many, many years to come,’ said Wilson.
Wilson appears to have a lot of confidence in the leadership of Vince Zampella, the CEO of Apex Legends studio Respawn and co-creator of Call Of Duty who was put in charge of the franchise a month after Battlefield 2042 launched.
He even adds that Battlefield 2042’s development has been overhauled to adopt what he calls the ‘Zampella/Respawn model.’ He doesn’t namedrop Apex Legends, but it can be assumed that the team is now looking to that game for inspiration.
‘They’re rethinking the development process from the ground up, and really using kind of the Vince Zampella/Respawn model of ‘get to the fun as quickly as possible.’’ Wilson explains, as transcribed by VGC.
‘They’ve been doing thousands of updates for the community, working on quality of life, and really getting the core game right. I think there’s still more work for us to do there and the team is committed to doing that work for the community.
‘Beyond that, once we get to a place where we feel like we’re in the right place with the core experience, and with the core game, then you should expect us to invest and grow beyond where the game is at today.’
As for the mobile Battlefield game, it was notably absent from EA’s earnings report and 2023 fiscal year schedule despite being announced last year as a 2022 release.
Wilson, however, says that it could feasibly launch in early 2023, adding: ‘We want to give ourselves the opportunity to ensure the game has all the soft launch and closed beta that it needs in order to tune and balance, but having played the game, I can tell you that I think we’re excited for the potential.’
Although further testing is planned for the end of May, there’s still little proof of tangible change for Battlefield 2042 and so far EA hasn’t made a habit of learning lessons from past mistakes.
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