Battlefield head Vince Zampella has addressed a disappointing launch for EA‘s shooter Battlefield 2042, claiming the game “strayed a little too far from what Battlefield is.”
Speaking to Barron’s (spotted by VGC), Zampella reflected on criticism surrounding Battlefield 2042, which suffered a launch marred by thousands of negative Steam reviews in 2021.
“I think they just strayed a little too far from what Battlefield is,” shared Zampella. “They tried to do a couple things that were maybe ambitious: grow the player count etc. I don’t think they spent enough time iterating on what makes that fun. It’s not inherently a bad idea. The way they were set up and the way they executed just didn’t allow them to find the best thing possible.”
Last month, EA addressed much of the criticism aimed at the shooter, and says it plans to re-introduce classes over the coming seasons. Looking ahead, EA has announced that Battlefield will be getting a new “narrative campaign” from Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto’s Ridgeline Games.
On that topic, Zampella told Barron’s that Battlefield will be developed with a “whole new structure” involving multiple studios, which EA confirmed last week. Zampella also argued that traditional shooters are “definitely still viable,” following a disappointing year for Battlefield, Halo and Call Of Duty in 2021.
Speaking of Call Of Duty, Zampella – who founded Infinity Ward in 2002 – said that it’s “a little surreal” to see Call Of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard acquired for £50billion by Microsoft.
Infinity Ward’s next game, Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, is just around the corner. Set to launch on October 28, yesterday (September 16) Infinity Ward revealed the shooter’s first multiplayer trailer, and announced that it will launch with three new game modes.
Modern Warfare 2 will also mark the return of Call Of Duty‘s third-person playlist. This last appeared in the original Modern Warfare 2; which launched while Zampella was still the studio’s CEO in 2009.
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