We recently published a message about EA and Battlefield 2042where the publisher, among other things, Halo Infinite identified as the ‘culprit’ for the shooter’s poor performance. The comparison was made that Battlefield 2042 was a shooter with technical problems and against that was a shooter without problems that was just polished.
The ‘surprising’ release of Halo Infinite was also something that EA seemed to point to as the cause of the somewhat disappointing sales of Battlefield. This resulted in furrowed eyebrows and at PC Gamer have now been given text and explanation.
According to John Reseburg, EA’s VP of communications, the many messages that have appeared online following the meeting are not an accurate reflection of the discussion they had. The conversation that EA had about the game was not about pointing out guilty factors, but about learning from the mistakes and discussing what action to take.
“It was about key learnings and actions we are taking, not blaming external factors.”
The surprising release of Halo Infinite has also been given a little more context. Microsoft decided to make the multiplayer available earlier than the initially communicated release date and that is exactly what EA was aiming for.
“The following Monday, Halo did a surprise release of their multiplayer mode, and their game was very polished. It was a small segment of the game, but it was very polished, and it was not a favorable comparison to our experience given some of the bugs and polish issues we had.”
Obviously, involving Halo Infinite in Battlefield 2042 is still a bit debatable. Although the situation as outlined is indeed a correct representation of the timeline, that does not alter the fact that Battlefield 2042 was apparently not good enough at release.
The fact that Halo Infinite came earlier than anticipated and was in a better status also says something about the initial situation around Battlefield 2042. The criticism of the game initially came mainly from PC players, who had issues with performance.
The good news, however, is that EA has stepped in and put Vince Zampella at the helm with regard to keeping oversight of the franchise.
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