Battlefield 2042is set to arrive in less than two weeks and is certain to be one of the 2021 holiday season’s most successful games. Yet PC gamers have some concerns afterBattlefield 2042’s beta testing revealed performance issues in the online multiplayer shooter. Specifically,Battlefield 2042players described frustratingly low frame rates and frequent drops across a spectrum of settings and hardware configurations. While EA DICE has acknowledged these issues, it seems it’ll be unable to solve them prior toBattlefield 2042’s launch.
According to Tom Henderson, issues experienced by PC players duringBattlefield 2042’s beta testingwill not be fully resolved by the time the game launches mid-November. Henderson explains that he reached out to “developers” regardingBattlefield 2042frame drops and that they confirmed changes aren’t going to be made in time for release. Henderson says that there was a “consensus” among the developers that he talked to, as if to imply that this is an accepted reality for EA DICE.
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That isn’t to say that EA DICE isn’t working on fixes and optimizations forBattlefield 2042on PC. Rather, Henderson says that these developers believe that the state of the game “is what it is,” but only until after launch. This is to say that an update is being worked on but won’t be ready by release. It’ll have to wait until after launch, though when that update might arrive is unclear.
It deserves to be said that while Henderson is a reliable reporter, he doesn’t provide much context for his reporting on the subject. For example, he doesn’t mention whether the “developers” he consulted with as working onBattlefield 2042or part ofEA DICE. That’s not to say that this report is unreliable, but rather that it should be approached with skepticism until there’s further reporting or an official statement on the subject.
In 2021, it should be assumed that a major AAA game releases likeBattlefield 2042won’t launch with serious technical issues and limitations. ButBattlefield 2042is in a curious place. EA has alreadydelayedBattlefieldmore than it would like and delaying any more could potentially ruin the franchise’s live service plans for its extended future. Add in that the console versions ofBattlefield 2042are likely a much bigger priority to EA and it’s easy to see howBattlefield 2042on PC might take a back seat.
Regardless of how or why it’s reached this point, PC gamers have a question to ask themselves: is it worth picking upBattlefield 2042if it still has frame rate issues at launch? This may be a situation where players should wait to see in-depth coverage ofBattlefield 2042’s technical limitationson PC before going through with a purchase.
Battlefield 2042releases November 17 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
