Why was Battlefield 2042 such a flop and why were the previous game hits? Battlefield isn’t known for the prettiest of launches, not as rough as 2042.

First off, the game came without a single player campaign which a lot of fans disliked. The creator of the game, known as EA, said they were solely focusing on the multiplayer experience. However, they failed at that. The game had many problems including annoying cheesy voice lines, dissatisfaction with map design and map variety, frustration with bad bullet spread that makes accurate shooting incredibly difficult, and multiple bugs. (Other complaints include a lack of guns compared to past releases, missing features like thermal scopes, squad voice chat, lackluster scoring systems, and what many are seeing as a weak array of vehicle options.)

This was very different from the Battlefield 1 release. Battlefield 1 had the best release in the franchise’s history. While any video game trying to capture the scale and stupidity of war is bound to fail, this attempt was noteworthy. Battlefield 1 received “generally favorable” reviews from critics, according to review aggregator.

Reviewers praised the game’s unique setting, as well as the risk DICE took when developing a WW1-themed game. The multiplayer component was praised for its solid mechanics, the new game mode Operations, the soundtrack, and the maps, amongst other things. Although praise was given to the single-player campaign for its story and level design, it was nonetheless criticized for being too short. PC World also criticized that all six campaigns take place from the viewpoint of the Allied Powers and the viewpoint from the Central Powers is absent.