EA says that DICE is "looking to build and test" crossplay for Battlefield 2042. That makes it sound like crossplay is a maybe, at best, but EA also says that PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S crossplay will be tested during the invite-only Battlefield 2042 technical alpha this summer. It's hard to test something you haven't built, and it's summer right now, so clearly DICE is doing more than "looking" at the idea. I'd go so far as to say that Battlefield 2042 will have crossplay, and EA is just giving itself room to delay the feature if needed.
The blog post continues to evade definitive statements ("we'd like to give you an understanding of what we're looking to achieve"), but says that we can "expect" PC and current-gen console crossplay, cross-progression, and "cross-commerce" support for Battlefield 2042. That means that, aside from playing with console players, we'll be able to transfer progress and in-game purchases between versions.
PC and console players will be able to opt out of playing with each other, EA says.
One thing you won't be able to opt-out of are the AI bots that will help fill up servers, although presumably you won't encounter many of them if you've got the entire PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5 playerbase to match with. That's one of the hopes of crossplay, at least.
The PS4 and Xbox One versions of Battlefield 2042 will also have crossplay with each other, but will be contained to their own little world. That's because, as previously announced, the older consoles are getting 64-player versions of Battlefield 2042, while the PC and new consoles are getting 128-player support.
Battlefield 2042 will be out on October 22, probably with crossplay, but if the feature isn't ready in time or EA completely changes its mind about it, I must concede that it technically hasn't promised anything beyond "looking." (Maybe DICE engineers write code with their eyeballs these days, you never know.)
Next up for Battlefield 2042 is EA Play Live next week, where we'll see the new throwback mode from Ripple Effect (the studio formerly known as DICE LA). Sometime after that, we'll hear about the other mystery mode, which is called Hazard Zone and is not a battle royale mode, EA insists. (It's been clear on that, at least.)
As for that technical alpha, it's still a "no need to contact us, we'll contact you" kind of thing. DICE is inviting Battlefield fans of note to the test under "strict NDA."
