At a big show put on for EA investors today, Battlefield GM Byron Beede announced that some variety of public playtesting for the next Battlefield game will start early next year, and revealed what each Battlefield studio is working on:
- DICE is handling the multiplayer, as it usually does
- Criterion, known for Need for Speed, Battlefront, and previous Battlefields, is working on both singleplayer and multiplayer
- Motive, which made the Dead Space remake and Star Wars: Squadrons, is working on singleplayer
- Ripple Effect, which developed the Portal custom servers mode from Battlefield 2042, is "working on a new Battlefield experience"
- Finally, there's also a Battlefield Central Tech Team that's "focused on enabling these developers with the technology and tools to unlock their capabilities"
All in all, it's the "largest, strongest, and most focused team in the history of Battlefield," according to Beede, and acknowledging that this is all big talk for investors, there are reasons to believe that things are going to go differently than they did a few years ago with Battlefield 2042.
EA has been open about the disappointment that Battlefield 2042 was to many players. The series' new overseer, Respawn co-founder Vince Zampella, said earlier this week that EA needs to "earn [fans'] trust back and get them back on our side" with the next Battlefield, which he revealed will ditch two unpopular aspects of BF2042: specialist characters and 128-player maps.
The strategy this time around, and "Vince's hallmark," according to Beede, is a cycle of rapid prototyping, playtesting, and feedback. "We're obsessed with finding the fun," Beede told investors.
EA has also been seeding the idea that this could be more than just one game, referring to "huge ambitions" and Battlefield "experiences." Beede says we can expect "a connected universe set in the modern day filled with Battlefield experiences."
He also revealed that "nearly daily" playtesting has been happening "for well over a year," including with Battlefield community members, and said that a "large-scale community-driven testing program" is planned for early next year. That sounds like a fancy way of saying that we can expect closed alpha or beta signups in the new year, and that is notably different from the strategy for Battlefield 2042, which was revealed fairly close to release, with an obligatory beta just a month before it came out. (Granted, we don't know when this new game is supposed to release—it could be out next year.)
The most interesting part of Beede's comments to me is that Ripple Effect is once again working on a surprise. The new studio created Battlefield 2042's Portal mode, which allows players to create custom servers using maps, weapons, and vehicles from old Battlefields. It didn't become the next big thing, but it was a cool way to keep at least some of the spirit of dedicated server culture alive in a modern live service context, and included a pretty powerful rules editor—I made a stupid mode where everyone was always falling, and if they hit the ground they respawned in the sky. I look forward to seeing what this new mystery Ripple Effect project is.
