Fielding the important questions, an interview on Battlefield 2042
Once the presentation for Battlefield 2042 was complete, in which we learnt about modes, maps and the new specialists, we had the chance to ask some questions. In addition to Oskar Gabrielson, DICE General Manager and Daniel Berlin, the Battlefield 2042 Design Director, the panel expanded to include Nickole Li - Senior Game Designer, Marie Bustgaard Granlund - Associate Producer and Feras Musmar - Associate Design Director.
Maxi-Geek: The map range seems more global than in previous Battlefield titles, was this a conscious choice, or was it driven by the narrative that the game is showing?
Daniel Berlin: A really good question to start off with, when we look at locations for a Battlefield game, we always want to make sure that we provide a wide pallet, both when it comes to the gameplay that we offer, but also when it comes to the visual range.
When you look at Battlefield games of the past, we have always been leaning into global conflicts, because it gives us that width of gameplay options and width in terms of visual immersion, for those massive maps we have been building this time around. In 2042 the approach has been the same in that regard, it is a tried-and-true concept that we have been pushing for, over the years and I am really happy with the selection of maps that we have for this game. As you saw in the event, we have only unveiled some of them and things are look really, really cool.
MG: Looking at the Specialist, we only got to see four of them so far, but which of those four would you consider your favourite?
Oskar Gabrielson: I’m an aggressive Battlefield player, always ending up in trouble when I play, so Mackay has that grappling hook, which is a great way of bolting up, using the verticality of the map, giving me a chance to get away from my problems.
Feras Musmar: Out of the ones we have revealed today, there are plenty more that I am excited about, but from the ones today, I am excited about Caspar, he’s pretty fun to play, I like driving around the drone, I like being sneaky, so he fits my playstyle as well.
Marie Bustgaard Granlund: What I like about this game is we have opened up the weapon for all the classes, I am more of a support player, so my favourite right now, of the ones we have revealed, is Maria, with the stim pistol. That is very much the Battlefield squad play, which I very much enjoy.
Nikole Li: Of the few we have mentioned, I am really thinking about Boris, because I am thinking there are so many opportunities to have, especially with his synergy with the turret, between Boris and the turret, it feels like there are two players there and all your buddies help mop up the squad.
Daniel Berlin: Of the four, well I love to play Battlefield regularly and those who know me, know I love to play, in the past games, as a Medic, I just love that loop of being a supportive type of player and then looking into the specialists that we have now, especially Maria, it just takes that role to the next level, because now you have the ability to revive someone at range, so playing as her, just makes you the ultimate type of medic player.
MG: With the game spanning multiple generations of platforms, how will map size and player base work on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 platforms. Are the base models the target for each, or are you using the more powerful hardware as the baseline?
OG: If you remember back in the Battlefield 4 days, we actually released on different generations of hardware at the same time, so what we can promise is, regardless of what platform you like to play Battlefield 2042, you will get that epic sandbox experience, but we will optimise player count, 64 players on the last gen consoles and then smaller play sizes. Regardless of what version of what platform you have, you will get an epic Battlefield experience, so look forward to that.
MG: Why were the countries, USA and Russia, selected as the two powers at war?
OG: When we go back and look at our different options and venues for Battlefield, we really looked at concepts that would take us far back in time, or far into the future, there was a really strong urge from our narrative team, that really has some inspiration from back during the cold war and that took us to a place where we had US and Russia as the two core protagonists of the game.
But I think players should really think about in this game is that given we have Specialists, it is a really diverse set of characters, with different stories and different backgrounds, so that even though it is a story about these two countries, you will meet characters from every single corner of the world.
MG: Given that the game is set in the future, what was the design choice on the world, did you want to go full futuristic, or keep some sense of the world people know today?
OG: I think the Battlefield franchise is known for delivering believable worlds, that feel grounded, and you can immerse yourself in the story and places you actually travel to. It’s a combination of bringing back all that gear we loved from the Battlefield’s 3 and 4, but sprinkling it with some of the new stuff, like the syringe pistol, the grappling hook, those things that add new adjective and player verbs for players to explore. Plus, I think we found the exact right balance, this 2042 period is really special for us and there is much more to explore, when we get into the live service as well.
MG: Were there any conversations about the name, given that the Battlefield names tend to be a little random?
OG: So I’ve done this for quite sometime now, there are many hard design choices when you build a game, apparently picking names is the hardest, so we spent quite some time on this. When the team heard 2042, it has also been close to two decades since we shipped Battlefield 1942, which is was the premiere of the franchise, it was a nice celebratory moment to not only celebrate that game, but also take a big step into the future and the name has really stuck with us since then and really grounds the game in a great way. But names are really tricky, I think our design director knows that as well.
DB: 2042
OG: It’s pretty rad right.
DB: I’ve been wanting to say that for a long time and now I can, which is awesome.
Many thanks to Oskar, Daniel, Nickole, Marie, and Feras for taking the time to answer the questions.
Battlefield 2042 is coming to PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on October 22nd, with early access happening on October 15.
