In a detailed briefing by EA and DICE, it’s been revealed that the Battlefield 2042 technical playtest has been delayed until later this summer. Dedicated Battlefield fans will need to wait a bit longer to jump into the massive, 128-player multiplayer action, and those fans can blame crossplay for the delay.
This, of course, is not referring to the game’s inevitable open beta, which has no launch window at all and will likely arrive even closer to the full game’s release. The Battlefield 2042 technical playtest is planned to have a number of differences from a traditional beta test. EA is only allowing a few thousand participants to join, and the test will only include a limited selection of Battlefield 2042 maps, modes, and features. The test is intended to help DICE understand the capabilities of the game and what improvements need to be made ahead of its scheduled October 22 launch.
Despite fan excitement around Battlefield 2042, EA announced in a lengthy blog post that the technical playtest has been delayed from July until “later this summer,” with crossplay named as the culprit for the test’s new schedule. The game’s development studios are currently fine-tuning crossplay functionality, so the technical playtest has been pushed back to give them an opportunity to test Battlefield 2042 crossplay ahead of launch. The playtest, which will only accommodate a few thousand participants, will help the teams “test some of our new features and functionality that we’re building from the ground up for Battlefield 2042.” The test will focus on the game’s technical performance, and only players with an updated EA Playtesting profile will be eligible.
Though it’s disappointing that many potential playtesters will have to wait longer to jump into the action, it may be a good decision in the long run. Crossplay at launch will be an excellent way to jumpstart the Battlefield 2042 community, with a player base spanning consoles and platforms like never before in the series’ history. Enabling the feature during the technical playtest is the best way to ensure crossplay actually works during the eventual beta test and at launch.
After the technical playtest, EA expects Battlefield 2024 crossplay to work between all platforms, including PC and consoles. EA and DICE also say they’re committed to providing players cross-progression and cross-commerce in Battlefield 2042, with shared accounts across all platforms. This means players will keep their progress in-game and any purchased content and can carry those items to any platforms they own the game on.
Battlefield 2042 will be available for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC on October 22, 2021.
