Electronic Arts is rethinking the development process on its Battlefield games "from the ground up," according to CEO Andrew Wilson.
In a call with investors Tuesday, Wilson said it was in on Battlefield for the long haul, maintaining it as a central EA franchise for the foreseeable future. He said new leadership on the franchise, including former Respawn Entertainment head Vince Zampella, would bring the series back to prominence after the nose dive that was Battlefield 2042.
"We take the long view here," Wilson said of the franchise. "It is one of the great franchises of our industry, built by one of the great teams in the industry, and our expectations are it's going to continue to grow and be a really important part of our portfolio for many, many years to come.
"We've got incredible leadership over that team now, they're rethinking the development process from the ground up, and really using the Vince Zampella/Respawn model of 'get to the fun as quickly as possible.' They've been doing thousands of updates for the community, working on quality of life, and really getting the core game right.
"I think there's still more work for us to do there and the team is committed to doing that work for the community and beyond that, once we get to a place where we feel like we're in the right place with the core experience, and with the core game, then you should expect us to invest and grow beyond where the game is at today."
Wilson previously admitted that Battlefield 2042 had fallen short of expectations, blaming remote work forced on developers by the COVID-19 pandemic, unforeseen technical problems that revealed themselves after the game had gone live, and competition from Halo Infinite. The game's first season of new content was delayed, and is now scheduled for release this summer.
