Battlefield 2042 "strayed a little too far from what Battlefield is", says Vince Zampella

Battlefield 2042 specialist character boris ea press image — (Image credit: EA)

Infinity Ward co-founder, Vince Zampella, has opened up about what he thinks went wrong with Battlefield 2042.

In an interview with Barrons and transcribed by VGC, Zampella - who heads up Apex Legends' developer Respawn - suggested DICE had "strayed a little too far" from Battlefield's original blueprint, and forgotten "what makes that fun".

"I think they just strayed a little too far from what Battlefield is," Zampella reportedly said. "They tried to do a couple of things that were maybe ambitious: grow the player count etc. I don’t think they spent enough time iterating on what makes that fun.

Article continues below

"It’s not inherently a bad idea," he added. "The way they were set up and the way they executed just didn’t allow them to find the best thing possible."

Last December we learned that Zampella would be taking the reigns of the Battlefield series amidst a major franchise shakeup that includes a "connected Battlefield universe" seemingly consisting of multiple unannounced games or experiences.

Zampella didn't reveal much about what was next for the beleaguered shooter, but did confirm that it would start with "a whole new structure".

"We’re putting multiple studios together," Zampella teased. "We’re bringing the best talent together and giving them the time to do something amazing."

Back in February, EA acknowledged Battlefield 2042's lackluster launch and partially blamed the shooter's poor performance on Halo Infinite, which arrived just a few days prior on November 15, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

There's been plenty of talk from consumers and developers alike on Battlefield 2042 since its launch. A refund petition gained over 100,000 signatures earlier this year, and a former Battlefield 3 lead revealed he was "astonished" by the "missteps" of the new game.

Nonetheless, EA has confirmed that it is "fully committed" to improving Battlefield 2042 with new updates over the coming months and DICE is seemingly attempting to rescue the troubled title by introducing some sweeping changes, most notably the return of classes.

The developer admitted that the inclusion of specialists as "polarizing" and says that it now plans to implement these into the infinitely more popular class-based system, albeit not in the immediate future.

"We have heard you," DICE said a few weeks back. "So in Season 3, we'll be moving specialists into the classic and familiar Battlefield class system. They'll have traits available to all specialists within a given class with existing open gadgets and throwables split between classes to fit their role."