Pretty much all we officially know about the next Battlefield so far is that it’s set in the modern day, and will bring back traditional classes and more focused maps after the unpopular changes made in Battlefield 2042. Beyond that, it’s all speculation – although one sleuth scoured the new game’s concept art and identified landmarks suggesting it could be set in Gibraltar.
However, with the first phase of its Battlefield Labs initiative – described as the “most ambitious community testing program in franchise history” – now live, despite participants needing to sign an NDA before they can get involved, gameplay is already popping up in various corners of the internet. And EA is not happy.
Whilst at first, with mostly positive news leaking, EA seemed pretty content to let the rumours fly, the team is now cracking down on the leaks, saying that no one wins when “information and content […] is shared out of context”.
Global community manager Totalfps hit back at a grumpy reddit thread about purported skill-based-matchmaking, cutting the commenter off with “Okay, enough”.
“Battlefield Labs is about building and collaborating on the future of Battlefield, and we want to do that in the correct way,” Totalfps wrote.”I want to remind everyone things that are taking place in Battlefield Labs may or may not make their way to the final finish line.
“This is the greatest thing about this program, it allows us the ability to get creative, see what works with those involved, gain educated and informed feedback from those that are participating and potentially spot bugs around the features too. We’ve long wanted to implement this program, responding to your requests for greater involvement and a return to this type of reactivity around all things Battlefield.”
Totalfps added that “there is a specific time and place for the wider community to learn about new features and functionalities”, but now “is not it”, and “the constant reposting of things is not that time or place” yet, either.
“Individuals are and will continue to be removed if they continue to violate the NDA that they agreed to,” they said.
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“Information and content that gets shared is out of context and often with a narrative wrapped around it that is doing damage to the trust and transparency we want to establish. Things simply are not the same when it comes to hearing about something out of context versus actually experiencing it – or reading about it in detail with the correct descriptions around it.
“While the allure of brief internet fame might be tempting, it undermines our efforts to remain open and communicative. And quite honestly, if that is your intention, then I question where this aligns with the interests of our, THIS, community.”
Totalfps stressed the Labs program exists because EA “wanted to have an environment that allowed for testing and collaborating once again”, but it “cannot do it if the trust continues to be tampered with. We must be allowed the ability to do it right – alongside you all and in the correct way”.
“Rules aren’t fun, but they exist to make it better for us all. Thank you to those that are abiding by them, but thank you for your trust and time too to make this great for you – our community,” they concluded.
Whilst we don’t yet have a release name or date, EA confirmed it expects the series’ latest instalment to arrive before April next year.