Overnight, EA released its fiscal 2022 fourth-quarter earnings along with its full-year report.Despite the eternally haunting theme Battlefield 2042 Indeed, while chatting with investors, the game almost disappeared from the publisher’s portfolio.
As with each quarter, EA briefly presents its financials in a color slideshow [PDF]. The fourth-quarter slide lists the games the company considers “active” on PC and consoles during the quarter. This basically covers games that continued to make money for EA during this period.
It includes everything from FIFA (sorry, EASFC) and Madden’s sports monsters, to live service hits like Apex Legends, EA Play subscription services and the latest Battlefield launch… Battlefield 5.
The Battlefield series doesn’t really get a lot of lip service in the full report [PDF]Either, but it’s clear that EA is keen to never come up with Battlefield 2042 unless Specifically I asked.
Unsurprisingly, investors did Bring up Battlefield 2042. In a Q&A following the earnings reveal, EA executives were asked to clarify why the publisher was mum on franchise news.
“We’re taking a long-term view here,” said CEO Andrew Wilson.
“This is one of the greatest franchises in our industry, built by one of the greatest teams in our industry. Our expectation is that we will continue to grow and be a great addition to our portfolio for many, many years to come. important part.”
Wilson added that EA will continue to invest in the Battlefield franchise, but it must first “get to a place where we feel like we’re in the right place in the core experience and the core game. [of 2042]. ”
To achieve this, DICE will “rethink the development process from the ground up” and follow Vince Zampella/Respawn’s “getting[ting] Have fun as soon as possible. “
Of course, after the disastrous launch of Battlefield 2042, Zampella took over the Battlefield franchise, giving developer DICE a major shakeup. The management reshuffle saw the departure of studio general manager Oskar Gabrielson.
This is actually the second quarterly report that EA has chosen to promote Battlefield 5 and bury 2042, and it’s not entirely without merit. Even from the outside, Battlefield 5 clearly has a much larger community than 2042, and by default it’s the most active game in the series.
While DICE continues to give Battlefield 2042 a major overhaul, the game hasn’t received any meaningful new content since its release last November, and players understandably went back to Battlefield 5 for a fix.
