Battlefield 2042 delayed to November

Battlefield 2042 won’t make its intended release date. Developer DICE announced Wednesday that the game has been delayed until Nov. 19, nearly a month after its originally planned release date of Oct. 22.

In a statement released on Twitter, DICE general manager Oskar Gabrielson explained that the delay was largely due to the challenges of working from home during the pandemic.

“Building the next generation of Battlefield during a global pandemic has created unforeseen challenges for our development teams,” Gabrielson said in a statement also attributed to the Battlefield 2042 development team. “Given the scale and scope of the game, we had hoped our team would be back in our studios together as we move towards launch. With the ongoing conditions not allowing that to happen safely, and with all the hard work the teams are doing from home, we feel it is important to take the extra time to deliver on the vision of Battlefield 2042 for our players.”

While news of the delay may be disappointing for all involved, Gabrielson also said that DICE will have more information on the game’s open beta sometime later this month.

Battlefield 2042 was announced in June and will be an all-multiplayer foray into the near future. The game will feature mostly modern weapons and vehicles, with a few futuristic twists, as well as gadgets designed to make battles more interesting. Of course, it will also feature the Battlefield series’ signature game design elements of massive maps and environmental destruction.

The new Battlefield game will also feature a new mode called Battlefield Portal, which will allow players to create their own unique changes to maps and game types, crafting something entirely new to share with the community.

While 2042’s original release date of Oct. 22 would have positioned it as the first big multiplayer shooter of the fall, it’s now in a slightly more complicated position. The game’s new release date puts it directly between Call of Duty: Vanguard, which is set to release on Nov. 5, and Halo Infinite, which is scheduled for Dec. 8.

Battlefield 2042 is set to come to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.