Battlefield 2042: 128 players, massive maps, and multiplayer mayhem like you’ve never seen it before

DICE takes us inside Battlefield 2042, the studio’s multiplayer-only gamble to reclaim its place as an FPS kingmaker.

Battlefield 2042 is the next generation of multiplayer shooters. The series has endured a cycle of creative stagnation and emerged with a truly mesmerising proposition: 128 players, free to run amok on the frontlines of the largest and most diverse sandboxes that developer DICE has ever constructed. Designed to be disruptive, tempered by cutting-edge technology, and engineered as a platform for future evolution, Battlefield 2042 is here to prove that there’s still scope for shooters to chart a path beyond battle royale to more exciting and electrifying horizons.

A newfound focus

DICE was hesitant to show too much of the game at this early stage, but we’re already starting to piece it together. The inscrutable balance of Battlefield 2 and the unconstrained carnage of Bad Company 2. The way Battlefield 3

leveraged its modern setting and the levolutions that defined Battlefield 4, pushing destruction beyond bullets carving holes in drywall. These elements are the bedrock of the Battlefield 2042

experience, a foundation for expansion and experimentation with a very specific focus.

“Across all of these games, one thing has always stayed true,” says Gabrielson, “multiplayer is what we do best at DICE, period.” The single-player campaigns for the Battlefield games ( Bad

Company 2 notwithstanding) have been disappointing, poor facsimiles of the large and open-ended multiplayer sandboxes that the series is so comfortable playing in. As a result, single-player is out, with DICE slow-burning the broader world and narrative development through a seasonal battle pass model, which Berlin believes will ensure Battlefield 2042 is “continuously expanding and evolving”.

Classes

Specialists represent one of the most notable changes to established play. Battlefield 2042 is set in a world wrought by the shortage of vital supplies and resources, leading to the collapse of society as we know it. As the crisis worsens, the USA and Russia draw what remains of the world out into an all-out war, forcing Non-Patriated citizens of failed states to choose a side and fight to make their voices heard.

DICE believes that this backstory helps explain away the decision to get rid of established Classes in Battlefield – we’re just happy to see the studio experiment.

Implausible Scale

Players on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X will fight across what DICE maintains will be the largest maps in Battlefield history, purpose built to leverage choice and creativity for 128 players. Two armies of 64 players, clashing in sparkling head-to-head battles with more tools than ever before: weapon customisation, gadgets and traits, dynamic destruction and real-time tornados, wingsuits and ziplines, and even the capacity to request land vehicles on demand – the list goes on and on. To put this change in some perspective, the Battlefield 2042 maps on PS4 and Xbox One will be scaled back to support 64 players total (the Battlefield standard for 20 years) and it all sounds so small in comparison.

Berlin is keen to stress that it isn’t just the number of boots on the ground that help sell the scale of All-Out Warfare, but rather what you can see and do once you’re in it: “It’s not just about having more players or having more things to do, because it can get too chaotic and that’s not what we want. When you’re playing, particularly on the larger maps, like Hourglass, it can almost feel like there’s multiple maps within the map.”

Battlefield 2042 will release on October 22 this year.