Update - October 2, 2021:

On Thursday, 30 September 2021, Electronic Arts posted on their website a blog titled “Battlefields Commitment to Positive Play”.

“Our community is the core of Battlefield and we’re excited by how much it’s grown since we first released Battlefield 1942, nearly 20 years ago. With Battlefield 2042, we’re strengthening our commitment to ensuring Battlefield remains a welcoming experience that encourages Positive Play.”

Now what does that mean for the community? EA wants to ensure that our community remains a positive space. 

In the message, EA outlines their initiative that they are developing in order to back up this commitment.

The Community Charter

“We want you to be proud of being a part of the Battlefield community – a globally inclusive and diverse community where any race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, heritage, or country of origin are welcome.” EA announced.

The first initiative outlined on the post was the Community Charter, which outlines EA’s expectations for it’s community members:

• Treat Others as They Would Like to be Treated - Squad up and play the objective, together. We won’t tolerate players who negatively disrupt or engage in harmful behavior towards others.
• Keep Things Fair - Be on the right side of the fight. If you see players breaking the rules, report them.
• Share Appropriate Content - Don’t fight dirty. Make sure whatever content you’re sharing is appropriate for Battlefield players.
• Keep Things Honorable - Protect your squad. Keep it legal in Battlefield, and do not participate or encourage in dangerous or illegal activities.

EA goes on to say that they take their commitment to positive and fair play seriously and wont tolerate bad actors on the battlefield.

Positive Play

Through Positive Play, players will be able to refine their social experience in-game with several tools and features:

• You are able to block or unblock players in-game, ensuring they cannot message or voice chat with you.
• An in-game text profanity filter will always be active.
• The option to mute in-game text or chat is available. You can select to mute either individuals, or all players or chat.
• You can report a player directly from in-game, so that you don’t need to tab-out.
• Battlefield Portal will also offer players several admin tools such as the ability to apply persistent bans across Community Experiences that you’ve created.

According to the post, EA has streamlined their reporting process to make it more “efficient”. This will allow players to report a player and then get back to the game quicker. There will be an in-game reporting too, that can be accessed through the squad list or social menu, which you can then select which player to report.This method will also allow you to add an optional comment if necessary.

Players will also be able to report an incident through EA Help in the Contact Us Section of their website, as well as on their respective consoles.

Now what?

EA is hoping to assure their players with more transparency. Players have been wanting to know what happens AFTER the report and some of EA’s changes are meant to keep you in the loop once you’ve reported something or someone.

If you report a cheater, they will inform you that they have received your report, and if they have taken action, you will be notified via email.

Fair Play

“Ensuring Fair Play for anyone that steps onto the Battlefield is something we take seriously at DICE. In short, that means we don’t tolerate cheating, and we have teams dedicated to preventing, identifying, and sanctioning cheaters.”

EA’s first approach to curbing cheating in-game is using their Easy-Anti Cheat (EAC) as their tool of choice.

According to the post, EAC already has a proven track record within Apex Legends and Star Wars: Squadrons. An additional advantage is that it has also been prove to be effective in ensuring privacy and security for players.

Another change in Battlefield 2042, is since the game will be cross-play compatible, if someone is sanctioned as a cheater, they will be disconnected immediately, and then banned across ALL platforms. This can also be applied to IP and Hardware bans if necessary. 

“To keep our community a fair place, we have a no tolerance rule in place. There are no warnings and no suspensions when it comes to cheating. If you don’t play by the rules, you’re out. Any actions made on your account can be appealed via EA Help.” - EA Blog

EAC will be in place during the upcoming October 6-10 Open Beta, and for the full release of BF2042 in November.

Lastly, in the statement, EA commented on keyboard and mouse support for consoles. It will not be available at launch, but they are still investigating various options.

Update - September 29, 2021:

A trailer has just been released that confirm the dates of the upcoming Beta for Battlefield 2042.

The dates, the same as rumored, are from October 8-9 for everyone. That's right, an Open Beta! But if you happen to be the proud owner of a pre-order of Battlefield 2042, you can start playing the Beta on October 6. Yes, it is a short Beta, but the trailer had a lot of exciting news regarding it.

Also, this Beta is going to be playable on Console and PC.

The Beta will only allow access to one map; Orbital. This is the map shown in the previous trailer with a rocket in the background. This rocket may or may not be met with disaster, depending on your match, but the destruction and how it affects the map is looking to be really cool and really exciting.

The only mode available during the Beta will be Conquest; which is like Capture the Flag, but with some new changes that are still being divulged by the developer.

Four specialists will be available during the Beta, but more will be available and revealed as we get closer to the release of the game. The ones we know about are Webster, Boris Mackay and Casper. In the trailer, you can see some of the new specialists, but no details are yet available.

As you watch the trailer, there is also a glimpse of some new cosmetics. They show these new cosmetics on a Helicopter, a character skin and a weapon skin, and in my opinion; this game is looking pristine.

Check out the trailer below!

Recently, Dice’s parent company EA, announced that Battlefield 2042 would be delayed nearly a month. From October 22nd, to November 19th.

In a statement by Oskar Gabrielson, studio GM at Dice, revealed the motivation behind the delay. 

“Building the next generation of Battlefield during a global pandemic has created unforeseen challenges for our development teams,” Oskar Gabrielson, studio GM at Dice said in a statement on behalf of the Battlefield 2042 team.

“Given the scale and scope of the game, we had hoped our teams would be back in our studios together as we move towards launch. With the ongoing conditions not allowing that to happen safely, and with all the hard work the teams are doing from home, we feel it is important to take the extra time to deliver on the vision of Battlefield 2042 for our players.”

At the end of the statement, it was noted that details on Battlefield 2042’s beta would be released later this month.

Newest Battlefield Installment

The newest Battlefield game is definitely a step away from recent iterations of the Franchise. 2042 is set in the near-future. Think robot dogs with heavy weapons mounted to their backs. Not laser future. Speaking of, where are our flying cars and laser guns? Anyways…

“The world of Battlefield 2042 is chaos. Resources are dwindling as violent climate change takes hold and the United States and Russia are on the verge of war. As entire countries collapse, people find themselves with no nation to call home. These nomads are known as the Non-Patriated (“No-Pats”), a diverse group of people who have bound together in clusters across the globe in order to survive the turbulent new world.

New Gameplay Mode

In this latest installment, the BF2042 team has created a new mode called Battlefield Portal. It will let players design their own game types, mix and match weapons and even vehicles from previous installments in the franchise such as Bad Company 2, BF 2 and 3.

These are the maps that will be available in Battlefield Portal at launch:

• Battle of the Bulge (Battlefield 1942)
• El Alamein (Battlefield 1942)
• Arica Harbor (Bad Company 2)
• Valparaiso (Bad Company 2)
• Caspian Border (Battlefield 3)
• Noshahr Canals (Battlefield 3)
• All seven Battlefield 2042 maps

Another mode is Hazard Zone, which is a high stakes, squad paced mode. Battle Royale anyone?

The biggest news is mostly that BF 2042 is doubling the size of the player population on the battlefield to 128 players, as well as changing up the class system to feature “specialists” jobs with unique gadgets to fit their skillsets.

Specialists

According to the Battlefield 2042 website, you will step in the boots of 10 different specialists (at launch). These specialists were inspired by the traditional Battlefield Classes, and each one will be equipped with their own unique Trait and Specialty, with fully customizable loadouts.

Vehicles

One of the improvements that Dice has made to Battlefield, is the access to vehicles. They are easier and more available to access and more squad-based than ever before. According to the developers, balance was the goal between creating an anchor for conflict and infantry-play.

The importance of balancing your loadout in the game, boils down to how you engage with vehicles, how you help other players, or how you stop the enemy from destroying your team's vehicles. 

Knowing when to hit the gas, knowing when to recon for your gunner and even triggering defenses can all boil down to a balanced team, communication and effectively crushing the enemy.

There is still the ability to spawn in vehicles; one major change the developers at Dice made was the possibility for players to call in vehicles when and where you need them via an in-game tablet. This will be available to all players, despite your Specialist.

Release Date:

Gold/Ultimate Edition - November 12, 2021

Standard Edition - November 19, 2021

Price:

Ultimate Edition - $109.99

Gold Edition - $89.99

Standard Edition - $59.99

Arena Size:

128 Players - PC, XBOX Series X/S, and Playstation 5

64 Players - XBOX One and Playstation 4

Minimum Requirements

Operating System: 64-bit Windows 10

Processor: Core i5 6600K / AMD FX-8350 or better

Video: 4 GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 560

Memory: 8 GB

Storage: Not yet available

Internet: Broadband Internet connection

Rated: M

Update: Earlier in September, Tom Henderson, a reliable industry insider claimed that the Battlefield 2042 Beta would begin on October 6 for pre-order customers ahead of the Oct 8 release for others.

Those dates have just been backed up by an online promotion ran by Bililbili's Live Stream page. According to this source, the Beta event will run from October 6-9.

For more information check back here as more updates are released! And remember, get your Game Face on!