PC Games

Battlefield 2042 Missed an Obvious Opportunity To Show Bad Company Fans Some Love

By 5 Mins Read

Highlights

  • Battlefield 2042 faced controversies and a mostly negative reception due to its lack of series staples and a non-existent single-player campaign.
  • Introducing operators without tying them more to past characters felt like a missed opportunity to connect with fans and franchise history.
  • DICE could have reintroduced memorable Bad Company characters to honor their legacy and engage with longtime fans. While operators would have been perfect for this, perhaps the characters could return in a future game.



With the post-launch support for Battlefield 2042 coming to an end, it is fair to say that the title’s legacy is one of many ups and downs. While the game undoubtedly did well to rebuild its reputation through consistent updates over the years, the massive high-profile controversies that it faced closer to its release have been hard to fully shake off.

It was clear from the outset that Battlefield 2042 was going to be very different from the titles that came before it, with its semi-futuristic setting and complete lack of a single-player campaign being quite unique compared to the wider franchise. Even the way the game chose to handle its multiplayer was quite controversial for many reasons, with things like a lack of in-game scoreboards, traditional class systems, and the introduction of Call of Duty-style operators catching a lot of negative attention closer to 2042‘s release. While many of these criticisms were eventually rectified by DICE, 2042‘s in-game operators remain contentious, though the company did miss an easy way to tie more of these specialists to past characters from fan-favorite releases like Bad Company.


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Bad Company’s Memorable Characters Would Have Further Anchored 2042 to the Wider Franchise

The Battlefield franchise has always appealed to fans through its grounded and more realistic nature compared to other leading FPS franchises, with the IP having used this to help itself contend with Call of Duty over the years. The large-scale warfare of the likes of Battlefield 3 and 4 maintained immersion through their clear factions with contrasting identities, and this is something that was all but lost in 2042.

As part of a controversial shake-up of the traditional Battlefield four class system, 2042 decided to introduce specialist operators that players could choose from in-game, each coming with unique perks and equipment. With the specialist selection being the same for both teams within a match, some players were quick to note how the concept of identical hero shooter-style soldiers fighting each other went against the history of Battlefield as a franchise.


This immediately put the concept of specialist operators and the multiplayer narrative of 2042 on the back-foot, with some fans being much less receptive to the new era that the release was attempting to usher in for the IP. This method of delivering a story is worlds removed from the character-driven single-player narratives of past releases like the Bad Company sub-franchise, and figures from these games could have been brought back for 2042 to appeal to older fans.

Bad Company’s Legacy Deserves More Respect in Battlefield Going Forward

The central characters of the Bad Company games are arguably the most memorable across the entire franchise, with the likes of Haggard and Redford being perfect potential characters for 2042 specialists. While the age ranges of these characters might not match-up to a 2042 setting, the title did make a call-back to Battlefield 4 by introducing Irish as a playable specialist, with Irish being 60 years old in 2042.

Call of Duty
has introduced non-canon Operators from classic games on several occasions, with
Frank Woods
usable in a modern setting and Captain Price being usable in the Cold War era.
Battlefield 2042
could have done the same, explicitly stating that characters like Haggard were made playable purely for fun and had no impact on the game’s story.


Irish shows that DICE was receptive to the idea of reintroducing older franchise characters as 2042 specialists, but sadly none of the Bad Company faces were given a return. When considering the long-lasting impact that Bad Company‘s story had on the franchise, and the lack of narrative present within 2042, this seems like a sorely missed opportunity on DICE’s behalf. Regardless of how this might have aided 2042‘s bold new mechanics, fans of Bad Company deserve some fresh content after 14 years of downtime, and this sadly might not happen for even longer now that 2042 has ended its post-launch support.

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