Battlefield 2042 was released in 2021 to overwhelmingly negative fan reactions. The first-person shooter title was criticized for numerous issues, including a lack of features, bugs, and gameplay changes. Unfortunately, this spilled over to players harassing developers on social media and directing vitriol at them.
Since launch, the team behind the game has worked to improve the title and has released several updates toward this goal, but that has not yet stemmed the tide of hate and threats. In a bid to put an end to the harassment of its employees, the franchise’s publisher Electronic Arts has now released a statement warning toxic fans to stop with the hate.
In the statement posted to its Twitter account, EA stated there has been an increase in online harassment directed at members of Battlefield 2042’s development team. The studio stated that while it is open to constructive feedback and criticism, it will take the steps necessary to protect its people from harassment.
The statement read, "Recently we have witnessed increased harassment towards members of our development team. Across all of our Battlefield Studios we are open to constructive feedback and criticism about our games, but to maintain a healthy and open dialogue with our community, we will protect our teams and people from toxicity and harassment."
A reminder of our Battlefield Community Guidelines 👇
▫️ https://t.co/y5oi9AGRwn pic.twitter.com/QTxCY4Vubi— Battlefield (@Battlefield) May 12, 2023
EA went on to state that it will take appropriate action against members of the Battlefield community who direct toxicity and harassment at its development teams in line with its User Agreement and Community Guidelines.
It stated, "We believe this [toxicity and harassment] has no place inside our game or within the Battlefield community. We want to remind our players that, through our EA User Agreement and Battlefield Community Guidelines, we will take appropriate action to uphold these values. As a community, we play the objective, together."
When players violate Battlefield’s Community Guidelines, EA states that it might "place restrictions" on their accounts and suspend their "access to certain or all EA services." In the event of repeat offenses, the game publisher states that it might permanently terminate the offender’s account and, by extension, prevent their access to their account and the game forever.
The Battlefield series is one of the most popular first-person shooter game franchises in the world, alongside Call of Duty, Halo, Resident Evil, and Far Cry. While the developers’ efforts to improve it have seen some results, like a surge in player count, many fans remain disgruntled and unimpressed.
Some of them continue to express disappointment at the title and tag it as a failure. And while they are within their rights to do this, targeted harassment of the game’s developers is unacceptable and should be firmly discouraged.
EA is planning to delist several Battlefield titles to free up resources and server space for future titles. While the announcement left several fans unhappy, EA promised it was for the best. Battlefield 2042 is available on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and PC platforms.
