Battlefield returning to modern setting without specialists for next game

Respawn Entertainment head and ‘Battlefield’ boss Vince Zampella has revealed the next game in the franchise will be going back-to-basics and will have a modern setting.

Electronic Arts and Respawn Entertainment have revealed their next ‘Battlefield’ game will be set in the modern era.

According to studio head and ‘Battlefield’ boss Vince Zampella, the developer will be going back to the series’ roots for its next instalment of the multiplayer-shooter, and will be returning to the modern era that was seen in ‘Battlefield 3’ and ‘Battlefield 4’ – the two titles that are considered to be the strongest in the franchise.

Speaking to IGN, Zampella said: “If you look back to the peak or the pinnacle of ‘Battlefield’, it’s that ‘Battlefield 3’ … ‘Battlefield 4’ era where everything was modern. And I think we have to get back to the core of what ‘Battlefield’ is and do that amazingly well, and then we’ll see where it goes from there.”

The company’s boss also said the studio would be dropping the controversial specialists that were introduced in 2021’s ‘Battlefield 2042’, and would instead bring back the more traditional class system for the upcoming shooter.

He admitted: “I don’t know what the rationale [for specialists] was, but for me, it’s like the team tried something new.

“You have to applaud that effort. Not everybody liked it, but you got to try things. It didn’t work. It didn’t fit. Specialist will not be coming back. So classes are kind of at the core of ‘Battlefield’, and we’re going back to that.”

As well as sharing some concept art from the game, Zampella hinted the next ‘Battlefield’ title may also remove the 128-player maps that ‘2042’ introduced in favour of more focused matches.

He explained: “Did [128 players] make it more fun? Doing the number for the sake of the number doesn’t make any sense.

“We’re testing everything around what’s the most fun … The maps, once they get to a certain scale, become different. So, we are designing something that is more akin to previous ‘Battlefields’.

“I’d rather have nice, dense, really nice, well-designed play spaces.”

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