Around the Christmas holidays and New Year’s Eve, the mills grind a little slower in many places. In the games industry, too, many studios use the time between the years to send their staff on a well-deserved vacation. After all, it was not only known since yesterday that the workload can be very high, especially shortly before the launch of a game:
more on the subject
Crunch in games: our report on an invisible problem
The developer DICE also decided to join the team behind Battlefield 2042 to treat yourself to a break. But since the shooter has struggled with all sorts of problems since its launch, fans also loudly expressed their wishes and demands for improvements to the game on social media during the holidays.
The one at EA as (attention, long title) Global Director of Integrated Communications for Shooter and Star Wars
employee Andy McNamara saw these fan posts after he came back to the office at the beginning of the year – and his reaction to them caused displeasure in many.
Simple tweet causes fan criticism
What happened? Andy McNamara tweeted a series of tweets in which, among other things, he called fans’ expectations for the holidays at the end of the year brutal
designated. But he also holds out the prospect of innovations.
According to him, you have things in the pipeline, but you don’t want to rush anything and only get 100 percent done with them. The changes requested by the fans would take time to plan and implement.
With these (now deleted) tweets, Andy McNamara caused some discussion among Battlefield fans.
But by then the damage was already done and criticism pelted him. Tom Henderson, known for his insider information, and the popular Battlefield streamer Flakfire joined the discussion with their own statements.
Both sides have their arguments
If you read through the replies to McNamara’s tweets, you have to dig your way through some unreflected and emotionally charged statements, but you will also find legitimate criticisms.
Especially the obvious one premature launch of Battlefield 2042 is criticized. The tenor from the community: If the multiplayer shooter had come onto the market in better condition, the calls for improvements over the holidays would at least have been quieter and the moods calmed.
Link to Twitter content
This user also blows in the same horn, who, in view of the technically bumpy first months, is particularly bothered by the full price of 60 dollars:
Link to Twitter content
Also Tom Henderson, who is best known for his inside information about Battlefield but also Call of Duty, joined the discussion and tried to act as a mediator.
He suspects that for most fans it is not the developer vacation that is the problem, but above all the tweets of the official Battlefield channel. They would read as if they had been planned months ago, assuming that the game would have a successful and problem-free launch.
The streamer Flakfire, active on YouTube and Twitch, just gave Andy McNamara a simple piece of advice: To delete the tweets so as not to heat up the tempers even more. And that is exactly what McNamara did shortly afterwards. He also posted a short tweet of apology:
Link to Twitter content
What is the future of Battlefield 2042?
At the beginning of 2022, the big question is: What does the short and medium-term future of Battlefield 2042 look like? Will the multiplayer shooter make a comeback after all, or do we really have it here? the first flop in the long history of the series to do?
We already talked about this in our podcast. And since you can never have enough expertise, we have called nobody less than Fabian Siegismund to the microphone so that he can present his view of things about BF2042 to us:
Podcast
Can Battlefield 2042 Be Saved? – Talk with Fabian Siegismund
Apart from the first patches, DICE also listened to the community’s often-expressed request before Christmas and halved the number of players – a change that was very well received.
How is your relationship with Battlefield 2042? Will you give the shooter another chance when DICE removes the roughest construction sites this year or have you already finished with the title and looked around for alternatives? Please leave us your comments!
