The secretive Battlefield 2042 Hazard Zone mode has been teased in a new trailer, and a full reveal is coming October 14. Not much is known about Hazard Zone, but many have suspected it will have battle royale elements. The series’ first attempt at battle royale, Battlefield V’s Firestorm, was met with a lukewarm reception. That could explain some of DICE and EA’s hesitance to reveal Hazard Zone, as its been rumored as Battlefield 2042’s response to popular battle royale games like Call of Duty: Warzone and Apex Legends.
Reports have suggested Hazard Zone is similar to Escape from Tarkov, which includes battle royale-like elements but takes a very different tack. Instead of rounds starting players with basic pistols, Escape from Tarkov allows them to spawn with gear loadouts of their choice and are tasked with finding new loot and making it out of the map alive. If players die, they lose everything they picked up in addition to everything they came with. Because of that game’s tactical, hardcore focus, Battlefield 2042‘s Hazard Zone might be more forgiving, but an adoption of similar gameplay would shake up the battle royale formula in the AAA space.
After a long silence on the mode, DICE looks ready to finally reveal the Hazard Zone mode for Battlefield 2042. An official Battlefield teaser confirms Hazard Zone’s full reveal will be streamed on Thursday, October 14 at 8 AM PT/11 AM ET. The teaser trailer almost seems to match up with rumors and Battlefield 2042 Hazard Zone leaks pointing to shared DNA with Escape from Tarkov, as voices in the trailer talk about “coming prepared” and hint at squad-based play with no mention of larger teams. It’s currently unclear how much of a shift this will be from the core Battlefield 2042 multiplayer, but that will likely be made more clear later in the week.
Whether or not EA will make the mode free-to-play is a mystery, but its competitors have already adopted the popular model. Halo Infinite‘s multiplayer will be free-to-play and Call of Duty: Warzone is the free battle royale complement to each mainline game since Modern Warfare, so it might make sense for DICE to try its hand at a free-to-play Battlefield 2042 experience in addition to the premium game. If Hazard Zone were free, however, EA would likely have to do it cautiously so as to not cannibalize its existing Apex Legends playerbase.
It remains unclear what shape Hazard Zone will take, and EA directly confirmed Battlefield 2042 won’t have a battle royale mode after the title’s announcement. Between the standard multiplayer mode with up to 128 players, Battlefield Portal, and now Hazard Zone, Battlefield 2042‘s offerings still sound quite ambitious despite doing away with the single-player campaign.
Battlefield 2042 will release on November 19, 2021 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and PC
