EA’s Battlefield CEO goes back to traditional release schedule: “You should think of Battlefield as a service”

EA CEO Andrew Wilson told investors “you should look at Battlefield as a service,” indicating the direction the popular multiplayer first-person shooter will take with the upcoming Battlefield 2042.

“I think that’s our direction. But more importantly, I think you should look at Battlefield as a service,” Wilson said during EA’s first quarter FY2022 investor call on Wednesday. .

Notably, EA has not clarified whether the Battlefield franchise will be released every two years like previous entries. The implication is that EA will continue to treat Battlefield as an ongoing ecosystem that sees regular updates.

Wilson highlighted EA’s continued transition to live service-oriented games for the future throughout the investor call, saying games like Battlefield 2042 “will reinvent what our epic games are at the ladder”.

With the recent announcement of the Battlefield 2042 Portal Mode, which allows players to create custom matches combining very different eras of Battlefield weapons and mechanics, it looks like EA is hoping user-created content will stimulate a continued long-term growth for the franchise.

“This really forms the basis of what we believe to be the future of Battlefield,” Wilson said, adding that different versions of Battlefield, including an upcoming mobile version, “would change the nature of what is happening on a launch to the next “and that EA aims to focus on” a 365-day platform-level engagement. “

EA’s call for investors revealed that the the publisher intends to double the live-service aspects of its games, including Apex Legends and sports game modes like FIFA’s Ultimate Team.

Battlefield 2042 will be released on October 21, 2021.

Joseph Knoop is a writer / producer for IGN.