The majority of EA’s most recent quarterly earnings report was good. According to CFO Blake Jorgensen, the fiscal quarter ending December 31st, 2021 was “the greatest quarter in the company’s history for net bookings, underlying profitability, and cash creation.” Apex Legends and FIFA continue to be popular games. However, there was one glaring flaw: Battlefield 2042. During the results call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson stated, “The launch of Battlefield 2042 did not meet expectations.”
The game was developed on the notion of scale, with massive online fights and even elements like dynamic weather in the shape of tornadoes. It was released in November following a last-minute delay. According to Wilson, Battlefield 2042’s persistent troubles are the result of such ambition, along with the constraints of producing a game remotely.
“Our teams strived to innovate across many aspects, including large size and 128 player matches, new modes, new dynamic gameplay, and more,” he stated. “Developing this game for over two years with our workers working from home proved to be difficult. We thought the experience was ready to be put in the hands of our gamers after going through our testing and preparation processes. We launched with a high level of stability; nevertheless, as more people played the whole game, it became evident that there were unforeseen performance concerns that needed to be addressed. Some of the game’s design decisions also didn’t sit well with everyone in our community.”
EA announced earlier today that the game’s upcoming season will be delayed until this summer, giving it “the time to focus on improving the Battlefield 2042 experience while finalizing the development of our seasonal content to ensure that it all meets our standard for quality,” according to the company. Despite the game’s early difficulties, Wilson claims that the publisher is “totally dedicated to reaching the full potential of this game.”
