With the release of the newest generation of consoles, the conversation surrounding the price of individual games has been a hot one. The jump from $60 to$70 for AAA titlesis a hurdle that many gamers are still trying to adjust to. Because games are beginning to cost more on the consumer side of things, gaming fans are looking for titles to justify their higher price tags. WhenBattlefield 2042was officially revealed yesterday costing $70 with no singleplayer content, many fans were skeptical.
Despite the sea of raised eyebrows when the price was revealed,Battlefield 2042is hopefully starting a trend that will result in better games overall. Its price tag is not only good for the publisher and studio but necessary for the game’s long-term success and support.
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Reducing the Necessity of Microtransactions in Battlefield 2042
A common gripe among fans of free-to-play multiplayer shooters likeFortnite,Apex Legends, andCall of Duty: Warzone, is that the constant barrage ofmicrotransactions makes free-to-play portions of those games feel cheap. While many microtransactions in the most popular free-to-play titles are typically purely cosmetic, there are still plenty of pay-to-win systems in other games resulting in unbalanced experiences. In a Q&A with Respawn Entertainment, the developers ofApex Legends, the studio said that microtransactions were a necessary part of their business model because of the game’s status as a free-to-play shooter.
Now thatBattlefield 2042has been revealed to not be free-to-play, hopefully the experience won’t be interrupted by microtransactions. While it has been confirmed thatBattlefield 2042will have season battle passes for purchase, the studio also confirmed that everything included in the passes will be purely cosmetic and not give buyers any sort of gameplay advantages. The inclusion of a purchasable battle pass might suggest that there will be plenty of other in-game purchases. However, it’s likely that because players will be buying the game for $70 right off the bat, the transactions won’t be as prevalent or expensive as in other titles.
Battlefield’s publisher EA doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to in-game purchases. It’s dropped the ball with plenty of titles likeStar Wars: Battlefront 2and other games in theBattlefieldseries, however, EA also publishedApex Legends. As mentioned above,Respawn needs to include high-priced cosmetics to cover its development costs, but ifBattlefield 2042doesn’t need to cover those costs in the same way because of its price tag, the game might be able to stand better on its own and prove that shifting from a free-to-play model to a one-time purchase model might still be feasible for AAA shooters.
Keeping Battlefield 2042’s Player Base Consistent
Live service, free-to-play games oftentimes keep consistent player bases for years after a game’s initial release.Fortnite,Apex, andWarzoneare some of the most popular games on the market despite none of them releasing within the past year. DICE’s previousBattlefieldtitles have certainly had large player bases, but they often see large drops several months following each game’s release.IfBattlefield 2042is able to merge the live service model with the one-time payment modelin a meaningful way, the game might keep players around for much longer than before.
Part of the reason players might stick around is because of the price of the game itself. $70 is quite the investment in a world where money is tight for just about everyone, so if a player is willing to take the plunge and spend the money, they’re going to want to stick with the game for a good long while.
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Battlefield 2042’s Audience and Removal of the Campaign
The big issue that many gamers seem to have withBattlefield 2042’s $70 price is its lack of singleplayer content. During the game’s reveal yesterday, it was announced that it wouldn’t feature a singleplayer campaign story mode. While this might be a disappointing announcement for many fans of the series,Battlefield 2042’s lack of a campaigndoesn’t mean that the gamewon’t be worth the money. The story modes of otherBattlefieldgames have varied in quality, with some being excellent and others being a little lackluster, but usually the main draw for the series is multiplayer.
The decision to exclude a campaign was most likely a calculated one where DICE looked at the data of how many players even started it in previous games and elected that the time, money, and effort that would be spent on it just wasn’t worth the hassle. Even though some fans might be upset, the silver lining of this decision is that resources usually spent on the campaign will now be put directly into makingBattlefield 2042’s multiplayer modeseven better.
It takes one look at other multiplayer shooters that lacked campaigns to understand that this decision might be a good one. Games likeOverwatch,Titanfall, andValorantdon’t have campaigns but are finely tuned experiences that keep player’s attention because of their high quality.
The Potential Success of Battlefield 2042
Only time will tell ifBattlefield 2042will be a huge success, but if the game can nail the merging of free-to-play shooter trends with a one-time payment model, it could mark a return to form in terms of paying for multiplayer experiences. Gamers often put hundreds of hours into multiplayer-only titles, so it stands to reason thatBattlefield 2042can find great success despite its lack of a campaign. That might all be dependent on how microtransactions are handled.
IfBattlefield 2042feels unfinished and unbalanced because of the inclusion of a pay-to-win system, there might be quite a blowback from the community. While pay-to-win systems in aBattlefieldgame seem unlikely, EA has announced promising multiplayer experiences in the past. On release, games likeStar Wars Battlefront 2proved to be based around pay-to-win systems.
That being said, things are looking good forBattlefield 2042so far. However, with the announcement that its season passes will be cosmetic only, it’s unclear if that’s the extent of microtransactions in the next entry. Hopefully, it sees the success of the countless free-to-play shooters popular now, while also bringing something new to the table.
Battlefield 2042releases on October 22 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
