Battlefield Labs will play a “significant role” in Battlefield’s future so fans can help DICE avoid a 2042-like failure

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DICE has announced a new community testing feature for the team’s next Battlefield game, currently in a “pre-alpha” state. Dubbed Battlefield Labs, players will be testing the next game in the decades-old FPS series to make sure the team avoids the same issues that caused games like 2042 to fail so spectacularly.

In an announcement by EA, Battlefield Labs is posed to be a huge part of the series future following the prior game’s failure to connect with fans. Now, instead of devs making games that they want to make, players will tell developers how to do their jobs. Testing is expected to start in the next “few weeks” with fans invited from across Europe and North America.

Battlefield Labs is an essential tool

In a press release by DICE, the new Labs experience was deemed a “significant” addition to the series’ developmental pipeline. With fans able to sign up to the new testing service here, select fans will be able to play early versions of the game and give DICE constructive feedback on how to improve the FPS game.

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“Battlefield Labs plays a significant role in the development that Battlefield Studios is doing for the series.”EA explained in a press release. “All the feedback provided during Battlefield Labs tests will influence the development of the next Battlefield title and beyond.”

The introduction of the Labs service comes at a “critical phase in development that will benefit from collaboration with the community like never before”, EA claims. With the game currently in pre-alpha, fans will be able to guide the team in the right direction before mechanics are introduced that take too long to remove.


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“I’ve been playing Battlefield long before I joined the team,” a quote attributed to EA’s Head of Respawn Vince Zampella reads. “This game has so much potential. To find that potential, with us being pre-alpha, now is the time to test the experiences our teams have been building for our upcoming launch. Battlefield Labs empowers our teams to do that.”

There’s no release date for the consumer version of the next Battlefield game. However, the new game will be developed by DICE, Ripple Effect, EA Motive and Criterion. It’s clear that a lot is resting on the success of this one game—a risky business move, but what do I know.

About the Author

Lewis White

Lewis White is a veteran games journalist with a decade of experience writing news, reviews, features and investigative pieces about game development with a focus on Halo and Xbox.