Extensive Community Collaboration for Next Battlefield

Electronic Arts' Battlefield studios are basing the next Battlefield game on the biggest community collaboration in the franchise's history. This is probably the publisher's way of trying to avoid another launch debacle like Battlefield 2042 in November 2021.

Electronic Arts has announced the "most ambitious community testing program" in the history of the Battlefield franchise, called Battlefield Labs. Work on the next game is entering a critical phase of development that the publisher hopes will benefit from collaboration with the community. The first phase testing will go live in the coming weeks (sign up). Initial testing will involve an invited group of players and servers in Europe and North America, with plans to expand invitees and server locations in the future.

"I've been playing Battlefield long before I joined the team," says Vince Zampella, Head of Respawn & Group GM for EA Studios Organization. "This game has so much potential. To find that potential, with us being pre-alpha, now is the time to test the experiences our teams have been building for our upcoming launch. Battlefield Labs empowers our teams to do that."

All feedback from testing will influence the development of the next Battlefield title and beyond. This is perhaps a lesson from Battlefield 2042, which was heavily criticised by many players when it launched in November 2021 - not just for its lack of classes, but for its technical and gameplay state. It was one of the worst reviewed games on Steam at the time. Since then, the shooter has been continually improved, largely based on feedback from the community.

Battlefield Labs plays an integral role in the development that Battlefield Studios brings to the franchise. Battlefield Studios is made up of DICE (creators of the Battlefield franchise), Ripple Effect (working on a new experience for the series), Motive (developers of Star Wars Squadrons and Dead Space) and Criterion.

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