It's no secret that Battlefield 2042 has had a rough go about it, earning negative reviews from critics and bleeding through its playerbase. In fact, Battlefield 2042 is being outperformed by older Battlefield games like Battlefield 5, but despite the lack of players now, it did have a strong sales start. Battlefield 2042 sold millions of copies out of the gate, but now thousands of those early customers are demanding a refund.
A petition on Change.org is demanding a Battlefield 2042 refund option across all platforms. The petition started off slow but has since exploded in popularity, with nearly 75,000 signatures at the time of this writing and more people signing their name to the petition with every refresh of the page. It seems that, despite EA's promises to improve Battlefield 2042 with updates, many fans are giving up hope on the title.
Battlefield 2042 was $70 at launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X, which has made disgruntled fans that much more upset with the final product. However, just because someone doesn't like a game, doesn't mean that they are owed a refund. And since EA has already admitted that Battlefield 2042 did not meet its sales expectations, it seems highly unlikely that the company will be issuing refunds regardless of how popular the petition becomes.
While there were some things that fans liked about the game, like Battlefield 2042's Portal mode, it's hard to see a path forward for it that doesn't involve going free-to-play. There are rumblings that a free-to-play version of the game is indeed in the cards, though that might just throw more fuel on the fire and encourage even more people to sign the petition demanding a refund for Battlefield 2042.
Whether or not Battlefield 2042 goes free-to-play remains to be seen. It will be interesting to see if EA and DICE cut their losses on the game and focus their efforts on a new project, or if more resources are dumped into trying to improve the Battlefield 2042 experience. There are plans in the works to improve Battlefield 2042 and address fan feedback, but some of those plans have already been delayed, like the scoreboard addition.
Some of the problems that people have with Battlefield 2042 are issues they take with the game at its core, things that can't simply be patched out or re-balanced. For example, Battlefield 2042's soldiers are a big reason why many fans have criticized the game, but it seems like it would be incredibly difficult to remove them. Fans will have to wait and see what happens with Battlefield 2042 moving forward, and while a refund would be nice, they should keep their expectations in check.
Battlefield 2042 is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
