Expanding theBattlefield
The nextBattlefieldgame is aiming to stage some pretty big battles. Thankfully, those battles won’t be cordoned off depending on your platform asBattlefield 2042will get cross-play, at least within console generations.
In anElectronic Arts blog today, theBattlefield 2042team confirmed that it’s building in and testing cross-play functionality. Right now,Battlefield 2042cross-play is expected to work between PS4 and Xbox One, or between PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5. (PC and console users can also opt-out from playing together.)
EA doesn’t provide a reason for the generational split, though it’s most likely due to newer-gen consoles and PC havingthe larger 128-player battles, while last-gen is limited to 64. The team will be testing cross-play out in the upcoming Technical Playtest, which will let a small group of players play on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5 play together.
There’s also discussion ofBattlefield 2042‘s cross-progression, which will carry over between Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. Basically, your kit goes with you, wherever you go. That will also include purchases within your copy of the game, according to EA’s blog.
Also confirmed in the blog today is thatwhileBattlefield 2042will have its bots, you’ll still need to be online to play solo against the A.I. A technical playtest will be hosted later this summer to help test this cross-play functionality, though EA says it is not intended to be the full experience that will be seen in the Open Beta or at launch.
This is some good news overall though, and certainly makesBattlefield 2042a bit more appealing for playing with various groups of friends. Next-gen consoles have still been hard to get a hold of, and so games with cross-play have offered us ways to still play together, even if PS5s aren’t in stock.
And I’ve really appreciated the games thatdo take cross-progression into account, though I’mstill waiting for some to catch upto the trend. Having this built in right from the beginning means I’m not worrying as much about unlocking everything on every version, or which platform I want to buy my cosmetics on. I can just care about when the next ATV will spawn, so I can drive it off a building into a helicopter, just like in the trailer.
Battlefield 2042will launch on Jun 30, 2025 for PS4, Xbox One, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
