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EA’s first glance at the upcoming Battlefield game came. As part of the playtest announcement for this upcoming game, EA released one 5-minute trailer showing some of the in-game features. However, EA has learned from the previous failure, and this time it has taken a unique initiative to involve the community in a collaborative effort through the playtest and make the game as perfect as possible.
Gaming playtests are not new. Often, developers launch playtest versions of certain games to get player feedback. Now the point is, some of them implement that feedback, others generally ignore it. Electronic Arts has taken this common practice to an uncommon state as it has entered a critical stage of developing the next Battlefield game.
When Battlefield 2042 was released in 2021, this game was massively criticized for almost every aspect. From the story to weapons, nothing was praised. Even at the point of writing, Battlefield 2042 has a 2.3 rating on Metacritic based on 5000+ reviews. It is natural that after this hard blow, EA will be more cautious about its upcoming installment.
This has led the company to take an initiative: Battlefield Labs, which is opening a new horizon for game development. Battlefield Labs isn’t the game that’s in the making, but it is the community test program that EA is launching for the community gamers to test the beta version of the game and provide their valuable feedback to the developers directly.
The latest blog post has shared that as the game has entered a “crucial” phase, developer teams are seeking opinions from players on what to prioritize, improve, or remove to make the experience enjoyable.
Battlefield games previously had playtests, but none of them reached such a height. The time or date of the Battlefield Labs isn’t yet stated, but EA has confirmed that “The first phase of Battlefield Labs testing will go live in the coming weeks.” Players can sign up for this playtest from the official website of Battlefield.
For the initial tests, EA will send invitations to a few thousand players, and this will only include servers located in Europe and North America. Later, this U.S.-based publisher company may consider expanding the player count and regions. Additionally, all the invited players have to sign an NDA form before diving into the playtest.
Reportedly, all the core gameplay mechanisms, including combat mechanics, destruction physics, and the updated class system, will undergo testing. Players will experience all the crucial systems to form an opinion.
The feedback that players will provide during or after the playtest will “influence the development of the next Battlefield title and beyond.” EA has been suffering a lot recently. Still, this initiative is unique, and if this experiment brings a successful launch of the official game, it will set a new example in the game development field.
The upcoming game is developed by Battlefield Studios. This is an umbrella term that includes four massive gaming studios who are working on this next Battlefield installment. The Battlefield Studios combines DICE, Criterion, Ripple Effect, and Motive. All of them are responsible for developing different parts of the game.
DICE is in charge of the multiplayer gameplay. So, this studio is working on all the multiplayer aspects of the game, including destruction systems, classes, squads, vehicles, gadgets, etc., to make it better than other multiplayer games.
Criterion is the second studio on the list, playing the most vital role in development. Its decade-long experience working with Battlefield games has made it responsible for shaping the single-player campaign. No matter which game it is, the single-player campaign mostly decides the success of it. Therefore, Criterion’s success will hugely contribute to the overall game’s success.
The third developer studio under this umbrella term is the Ripple Effect. What this studio is working on is currently a bit mysterious. The description says this studio is working on an aspect that will open up the Battlefield for a new group of gamers. Well, what’s that can’t yet be told.
Motive is the fourth studio in this development team. While DICE is working on multiplayer gameplay, Motive is in charge of making the multiplayer maps. Not only that, Motive is also working on single-player missions.
The divided workload and the community playtest are showing EA’s dedication to the upcoming Battlefield game. For a long time, the Battlefield franchise needed a worthy successor to continue the saga that Battlefield 1 started in 2016. Also, this success is probably required for EA to compensate for its recent blows.
