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EA Post Mortem on BF2042 (WFH, Frostbite upgrades, comparative quality of Halo Infinite, design choices)

cormack12

Gold Member
Source: https://www.xfire.com/ea-acknowledges-battlefield-2042-failure-post-motem/

EA execs spent over 20 minutes discussing what went wrong with the launch, and also how the company sees the future of both Battlefield 2042 and the Battlefield franchise going forward.

On Battlefield 2042's failures, Miele outlined several key factors that EA's top brass believe caused its disappointing launch.

[]...one factor was the Frostbite engine and, due to its old tech, the massive update it went through in order to power Battlefield 2042. From my own reports, this alone took over 18 months of development time and Miele addressed the engine upgrade by saying "All new tech, it was basically a new engine. They went back. The Frostbite version they were on was so old they had to go back and update. So it was basically putting the game on a new engine."

Another major reason for the failure of Battlefield 2042 put forward by management, and which shouldn't be a surprise, is the work from home environment that many in the industry are currently faced with. On this, Miele said "Add up all of this new innovation, all of this ambition for the new project, and then you add a global pandemic halfway into the project, where the game teams had to work from home, we ended up with more new variables in development than we have ever experienced before."

It was then revealed that Battlefield 2042's bug count ratio got to "historic levels for a DICE game" and mock reviews prior to launch were in the "high 70s to low 80s."

Following the game's launch, DICE rolled out its Day 1 and Day 0 patches to get the bug count down further. On this, Miele continued and said that Battlefield 2042's launch and patches meant "the game was stable" and "the early critical reception was good". However, according to EA, things took a turn, and that turn was clears throat, the surprise release of Halo: Infinite multiplayer.

According to Miele, the comparison between both games was not favourable because Halo Infinite was a very polished title whereas Battlefield 2042 contained bugs and wasn't as polished.

In addition, negative player feedback overall was focused on three key areas, which EA would further elaborate on:
  • Bugs and performance
  • Game design and feature choices
  • The game not aligning with player expectations
 

TransTrender

Gold Member
Interesting that they're also (partially) blaming it on the C-word again considering EA's CFO came out saying in 2021 that they were "ahead of schedule". :lollipop_flores:
This is the best part of the story I think.
Does this mean EA Leadership intentionally disclosed false information about the state of their product to bump the stock price?
Is this institutional misconduct where they internally target a product quality level which doesn't meet ACCC Consumer Guarantees without disclosing to shareholders that the company's product may not be suitable for sale in various regions?

Someone should really tell the EA share holders about this because it seems like either way EA is taking you all for a ride.
 

KyoZz

Tag, you're it.
However, according to EA, things took a turn, and that turn was clears throat, the surprise release of Halo: Infinite multiplayer.
Uh Huh Reaction GIF
 

splattered

Member
I uninstalled this from my SX internal last night to make room for Cyberpunk and Elden Ring.

Felt kinda bad doing it but i haven't played it more than 20 times... i really want the game to be good.

Just so disappointing :(

Maybe one day they will get it into fun/decent shape and i can re-install and enjoy it.

I said the same thing about Anthem though haha
 
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REDRZA MWS

Member
What update to Frostbite? Game is looking worse than previous games. Should have been massive downgrade probably, editorial mistake...
I was thinking exactly the same, and not even for the graphics (it’s still a cross gen game) BUT the lack of destructible environments is unforgivable. BF was always known for a great amount of map destruction leading to some great gameplay.
 

NickFire

Member
From my vantage point it looks like a bunch of greedy people thought they'd get richer by chasing a new audience who didn't want to see toxic things like scoreboards and voice chat, and then the greedy people forced a premature release when it should have been delayed about a year. Am I missing anything?
 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
How the fuck was Halo a surprise release?
DICE suck and are slow with updates, always have been.
And even then, what kind of excuse that is "Halo was surprise release". Like that you had some competition which worked? So yours game had to be at least in that state? What kind of logic is that...these people are like from elementary school.
 

Boss Mog

Member
I didn't read anything about fans not wanting "operators" or wall hacks in that block of text so I guess they still don't get it. I also didn't read anything about the maps being complete shit and there being so few of them.
 

Urban

Member
Source: https://www.xfire.com/ea-acknowledges-battlefield-2042-failure-post-motem/

EA execs spent over 20 minutes discussing what went wrong with the launch, and also how the company sees the future of both Battlefield 2042 and the Battlefield franchise going forward.

On Battlefield 2042's failures, Miele outlined several key factors that EA's top brass believe caused its disappointing launch.

[]...one factor was the Frostbite engine and, due to its old tech, the massive update it went through in order to power Battlefield 2042. From my own reports, this alone took over 18 months of development time and Miele addressed the engine upgrade by saying "All new tech, it was basically a new engine. They went back. The Frostbite version they were on was so old they had to go back and update. So it was basically putting the game on a new engine."

Another major reason for the failure of Battlefield 2042 put forward by management, and which shouldn't be a surprise, is the work from home environment that many in the industry are currently faced with. On this, Miele said "Add up all of this new innovation, all of this ambition for the new project, and then you add a global pandemic halfway into the project, where the game teams had to work from home, we ended up with more new variables in development than we have ever experienced before."

It was then revealed that Battlefield 2042's bug count ratio got to "historic levels for a DICE game" and mock reviews prior to launch were in the "high 70s to low 80s."

Following the game's launch, DICE rolled out its Day 1 and Day 0 patches to get the bug count down further. On this, Miele continued and said that Battlefield 2042's launch and patches meant "the game was stable" and "the early critical reception was good". However, according to EA, things took a turn, and that turn was clears throat, the surprise release of Halo: Infinite multiplayer.

According to Miele, the comparison between both games was not favourable because Halo Infinite was a very polished title whereas Battlefield 2042 contained bugs and wasn't as polished.

In addition, negative player feedback overall was focused on three key areas, which EA would further elaborate on:
  • Bugs and performance
  • Game design and feature choices
  • The game not aligning with player expectations
Cant wait for EDMIX-Damage-Control-Train
 

Fahdis

Member
Keep your prior games as a service updating as we go along time and develop your new game until its finished properly.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
EA management in a tough spot.

The game was released so buggy and shitty, top brass can't come out and say all you dev steam did a shit job. Got to keep that employee morale up.

It's like at companies I work at where entire product lines get axed because the products and pricing sucks and nobody wants to buy it.

Management will always site some shit like "we ran into challenges such as A, B C" in big group meetings. But behind closed doors, everyone will say the product sucked and was overpriced.
 
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01011001

Banned
I mean, if a fucked up and incomplete shell of a game like Halo Infinite can ruin your market share, you REALLY fucked up lol

Infinite is in such a bad state, and yet does better than this shitshow of a game you made guys loool!
 

Catphish

Member
It started with the prostitution of their sports franchises for MTXs but, really, from Battlefront 2 to present, it's become blatantly obvious to me that EA, as an entity, is no longer interested in producing anything gamers want, except for those things which have been clinically proven to be manipulable and Skinner-Boxed.

They're not blind. They're not deaf. They're very precisely calculated, and offensively cynical. They've become a pulsating heart of darkness wrapped in glittering gold foil to seduce shareholders. That's it.

Fuck them. So hard.
 

Paasei

Member
I blame your lack of time spent on developing the game and not listening to the playerbase. No chat and no fucking scoreboards, no classes, characters that talk like they have the time of their lives in a game that is supposed to represent a potential WW3.

Not to mention the horribly boring maps and the bugs/technical issues.

But sure, it’s Halo’s fault for doing it all better and some stupid virus.
 
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