EA Reportedly Blames Halo Infinite for Battlefield 2042's Lackluster Launch

EA laid some blame for Battlefield 2042's less than stellar sales on competition from 343 Industries' Halo Infinite, per a report by Xfire.

In a company "Town Hall" with employees, EA allowed that Battlefield 2042's sales had fallen short of what it had hoped for the game, and talked through some of its plans to improve both the game and the franchise in future updates.

EA's Chief Studios Officer, Laura Miele, led the discussion. She said Battlefield had "failed to meet the expectations of our players, and also clearly missed our own expectations."

Miele attributed the game's shortcomings to the scale of the project and to the switch to working from home amid the COVID-19 pandemic. She also said that despite plenty of feedback regarding bugs and unpolished aspects of the game, early feedback from players and critics was positive, and the Day 1 patch for the game made it "stable." The game was buggy, but not outside of historical levels for DICE launches.

This is where Halo Infinite enters Miele's narrative. Infinite launched just after 2042, and its polish reflected badly on Battlefield. Furthermore, she said players expected higher polish on live service games nowadays, meaning the old Battlefield strategy of launching buggy and patching along the way was no longer effective.

Battlefield players have gone so far as to write and sign en masse a petition calling for refunds for the game. That petition has reached over 200,000 signatures.