EA’s boss says the company is ‘taking the long view’ with Battlefield 2042
Electronic Arts’ CEO has said the company remains committed to Battlefield 2042 for the long-term.
During the publisher’s quarterly earnings call on Tuesday, it was put to EA execs that the game’s most recent major update hadn’t led to a resurgence for the title, which has underperformed since its delayed release in November 2021.
On April 11, the Steam version of Battlefield 2042 had an average concurrent player count of 1,963 over the previous 30 days, according to SteamCharts. In the 30 days since, that total rose to 2,220.
While not insignificant, it marks slow growth for that version of the shooter, which received its big 4.0 update on April 19, featuring over 400 fixes and improvements, plus the introduction of voice chat.
Asked if EA’s commitment to investing in the game had changed following players’ response to the update, boss Andrew Wilson said it hadn’t.
“No, and again, we take the long view here,” he responded (transcribed by VGC). “This is one of the great franchises of our industry, built by one of the great teams in the industry, and our expectations are it’s going to continue to grow and be a really important part of our portfolio for many, many years to come.”
In December, EA announced its intention to create a “connected Battlefield universe” alongside widespread changes to the franchise’s development structure.
As part of these plans, DICE general manager Oscar Gabrielson left EA altogether, while Respawn and Infinity Ward co-founder Vince Zampella took on a new role as the overseer of the entire Battlefield franchise.
Halo designer Marcus Lehto is also leading a new Seattle studio whose aim is to add more meaningful narrative to the Battlefield series.
“We’ve got incredible leadership of that team now,”
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