In a way, the situation has only gotten worse with EA and DICE pushing back the game’s first season to work out the live-service shooter’s kinks, much to the dismay of fans. Now, the very same players are expressing their thoughts by starting a petition to ask EA and DICE to refund everyone who bought Battlefield 2042 across all platforms.
The Change.org petition already has more than 80,000 petitions and the number keeps on growing by the hour. It’s only a matter of time before more than 150,000 join the cause and the petition becomes one of the top signed on the platform. Of course, just because a petition is gaining traction doesn’t mean that EA and DICE will listen. But, with a dwindling player count that’s already forced cheat makers out, Battlefield 2042 can’t stand to hemorrhage what little player base it has right now. EA and DICE are in a rough spot. Do they continue working on Battlefield 2042 even if very few people are left playing? Should Battlefield 2042 go the free-to-play route, as earlier reports suggest? What happens to the players that just paid at least $70 at launch for Battlefield 2042 a few months ago if Battlefield 2042 goes free? Do they get refunded? If not, what kind of special privileges do the “paid” players get, and for how long? Battlefield 2042 won’t be the only paid game that eventually went free-to-play, but it has to be the only AAA title ever to do so less than a year after it was launched if it happens. Judging by EA and DICE’s history, we don’t think that Battlefield 2042 is ever becoming free. The most likely route is for Battlefield 2042 to go the way of Star Wars: Battlefront II, which was a similarly maligned shooter at launch that eventually become one of the best Star Wars games. However, EA and DICE invested a lot of money to turn things around for Battlefront II, releasing free content for years just to satisfy players. Not to mention, Battlefront II was released at a time when “better” alternatives did not exist. At the end of the day, only EA and DICE know what’s going to happen to Battlefield 2042, petition be damned. We’re only hoping that EA finds a way to honor the fans that believed in the potential of Battlefield 2042 as a live-service game. If not, we don’t know how DICE is going to recover from such a big hit to their reputation. If it’s any consolation, Battlefield 2042 is the only EA game that’s suffering like this. Right now, fans are eagerly anticipating more news about Respawn Entertainment’s future slate of games, which includes at least three Star Wars titles, including a shooter that sounds like the lovechild of Titanfall and Star Wars. Not to mention, a new Need for Speed game is coming out in October.
