Battlefield 2042 was hotly anticipated, but its reception at launch has led to fans and EA alike considering it to be a major disappointment. Rumors about the game possibly becoming free-to-play have been circulating for weeks, and the player base has suffered a major drop-off. Now, the lead designer of the critically acclaimed Battlefield 3 is shining a spotlight on several of Battlefield 2042's issues.
David Goldfarb, lead designer of both Battlefield 3 and Bad Company 2, recently took to Twitter to criticize how Battlefield 2042 turned out. Apparently, he didn't play the game or even watch any footage until February 7, 2022. After he finally got caught up on how the new title was doing, he soon began to question exactly how things got this bad.
In a series of tweets, Goldfarb announced that he doesn't understand why many of the design choices for Battlefield 2042 were made. His first issue is the lack of smaller infantry maps, followed by questioning why the 128 player count doesn't seem to have infantry accommodations. Then he asked why Battlefield 2042 maps were shipping without detail art and openly wonders if anyone was in charge of quality control on this title. Although he stated that he expected obstacles from the higher-ups, he doesn't know who thought this game would honor and expand the classic Battlefield sandbox experience.
He goes on to express his sympathy to the friends and colleagues who worked on Battlefield 2042. That aside, he does note that he was happy to see Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3 revived in their own way through the game's Portal mode, which has been considered a major redeeming feature. However, this does not change the fact that so many Battlefield 2042 players were unsatisfied with the game that a petition demanding EA issue refunds across all available platforms has taken off.
Goldfarb ended his stream of criticisms by suggesting that DICE's next move should be to carry the Battlefield franchise even further into the future - he recommends 2143 - and try to recapture the series' main appeal. He specifically mentions "combined arms badassery" and describes the series as a really unique IP.
Although Battlefield 2042 got a few things right, it has been viewed as a disappointing outing overall by many fans. This is especially clear when it's compared to Call of Duty: Vanguard, another first-person shooter which came out around the same time. With luck, Battlefield 2042 developers will listen to Goldfarb's advice and find a way to salvage the situation.
Battlefield 2042 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
