Battlefield 2042 won’t get its first season until summer

By Otto Kratky February 1, 2022

Following a rocky launch, Battlefield 2042‘s first season is set to release sometime this summer according to a blog post from developer DICE.

Today we’re sharing the latest #Battlefield 2042 details, our new player feedback loop, and a status update for Season One.

Learn full details: https://t.co/6y8368gebO pic.twitter.com/WrueRz2ICm

— Battlefield (@Battlefield) February 1, 2022

The game’s upcoming season, the first of four, will add a new map to the game, along with a new specialist and “more completely new content.” However, its release is coming later than anticipated for players, being pushed back due to the game’s numerous issues that have been or are currently being fixed.

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Among the work pushing back Battlefield 2042‘s first season have been numerous updates, each of which has addressed a different issue in the game. A small update coming early in March will revamp the game’s scoreboard, while others will add long-requested “legacy features” like in-game voice chat and player profiles.

Other upcoming updates for Battlefield 2042 will also include changes to the game’s gunplay, an “improved reward loop,” and an overall expansion of Battlefield Portal.

To make up for the late arrival of Battlefield 2042‘s first season, DICE is giving anyone who purchased the Gold or Ultimate version of the game a bundle of cosmetics. Skins for weapons, vehicles, and specialists, plus a new melee weapon are all included, but the offering is sure to leave fans wanting more.

While an adjusted scoreboard and in-game voice chat are being added, fans still feel ignored by DICE, especially coming off the game’s removal of Rush. Having been returned to the game as a limited-time event, the classic Battlefield game mode was removed even after players asked that it be permanently added.

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Otto Kratky is a freelance writer with many homes. You can find his work at Digital Trends, GameSpot, and Gamepur. If he's…

Gaming

Battlefield 2042 Season 1 is an improvement, but a late one

A specialist holds Battlefield 2042's new crossbow weapon.

Battlefield 2042's launch didn't go quite as planned for EA. While it was poised to be the publisher's next live service hit, it floundered at launch due to an overwhelming number of bugs, a controversial ability-driven specialist system, maps that felt way too big, and more. While Digital Trends' reviewer loved the base game, many players didn't, so EA spent months fixing it. As a result, Season 1: Zero Hour was pushed back all the way to June 9, over six months after the game's launch. Ahead of its release, I got the opportunity to try out some of Season 1's new content a see if Battlefield 2042 has really changed for the better.
This primarily consisted of going hands-on with the new Specialist Ewelina Lis on the new map Exposure. Is Battlefield 2042 in a better state now than it was at launch? Yes. Will it make enough compelling additions and changes to bring you back if you're not a hardcore Battlefield fan? Not really.
Battlefield 2042 | Season 1: Zero Hour Gameplay Trailer Premiere
What's new?
The main additions coming to Battlefield 2042 at the start of Season 1 are a new rocket launcher-wielding specialist named Ewelina Lis, a new map set in the Canadian Rockies called Exposure, new weapons including a crossbow and marksman rifle, and a battle pass containing lots of free and paid unlockables. It's definitely the meatiest batch of content Battlefield 2042 has received since launch, but it doesn't revamp or fix every core problem with the game.

Starting with the battle pass, don't expect any wild crossover or crazy outfits, just a lot of new realistic looks for your specialists, vehicles, and weapons. It is challenge-based, which Halo has shown the downsides of, but thankfully 30 tiers of it are free and the only things unlocked by paying up are cosmetic. That means everyone will be able to try the new specialist Ewelina Lis. She is a helpful Engineer Specialist as she always has a rocket launcher at her disposal to help destroy vehicles.
While I found the new Ghostmaker R10 Crossbow and BSV-M Marksman Rifle to be too slow and not powerful enough to be very useful in a game with such a quick time to kill, Lis may be a useful specialist that will stick around on most squads. She's particularly useful on the brand-new map Exposure.
When previewing the new season, I got to try out both Conquest and Breakthrough on Exposure, a map that supports both 128-player and 64-player matches. As it takes place in and around a base built into the side of a mountain, it has one of the most distinctive and vertical layouts of any new Battlefield 2042 map. The tensest firefights took place in a spot nestled on the side of the mountain, as players could flank from within the mountain on foot or from the skies in new stealth helicopters. While I enjoyed those moments and attacking the base in the helicopter, it still felt a bit too big to traverse on foot outside of that base, a common problem with all of Battlefield 2042's maps.

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EA ending Hazard Zone support in Battlefield 2042

A squad of four members in Battlefield 2042's Hazard Zone mode.

EA announced that development is winding down on one of the new modes introduced in Battlefield 2042. Hazard Zone is getting taken off of life support, with future development being brought to an end as active player numbers wind down.

Battlefield 2042 | Battlefield Briefing - Development Update May 2022

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An operator uses a headset microphone in Battlefield 2042.

Just five months after it was initially released, Battlefield 2042 is finally getting a basic -- and often demanded -- feature: In-game voice chat. The ability to talk to squadmates in the massive, team-based first-person shooter will be added in the game's 4.0 update, which is set to roll out on April 19.

https://twitter.com/BattlefieldComm/status/1516068203922919428