Anticipation is building among the fans regarding the news about the next installment in the Battlefield franchise. The wait is finally yielded with some exciting updates. In September, Vince Zampella from EA who took the reins of the series after his success with Respawn Entertainment on Titanfall and Apex Legends, shared some intriguing insights.
He confirmed that the upcoming battlefield game will go back to its modern setting and will move away from the historical contexts that were there in Battlefield I and V. In addition to this, he also hinted at a community testing program that would engage players in the development process.
Now, EA has launched a brief glimpse of the early gameplay and has introduced Battlefield Labs which is a comprehensive pre-launch playtesting initiative. Although the title of the new game remains under wraps, Zampella has previously indicated that the contentious specialist system would not return.
Instead, the focus will be on more streamlined 64-player maps which address the backlash against the expansive 128-player battles of 20142. He also dropped a hint at a community testing approach which is similar to that of the upcoming PC game Skate.
Battlefield Labs is now officially confirmed as this new initiative which has been designed as a development program where players have the option to test specific areas of the game before its release.
This closed environment marks the most expensive pre-release testing effort the series has seen, promising more content than ever before. By marketing Labs in this manner, EA aims to ease worries about the game launching in a problematic state or featuring elements that might not be supported by the community.
While the duration of the Labs may not be as lengthy, it is similar to the community testing program that EA has been implementing for the next Skate game.
