EA says that Battlefield 3 and 4 will be the pinnacle of the series.

I enjoyed the experimental nature of Battlefield 2042. The lonely hikes through its 128-player maps reminded of how epic Battlefield 1942 was in 2002. But I was in the minority on this one. The new boss of the Battlefield series wants to recapture the "peak Battlefield-ness" that was found in Battlefield 3 & 4.

Vince Zampella is the co-founder of Respawn. He previously co-founded Infinity Ward, and was in charge of Battlefield's main rival, Call of Duty. EA announced that he would be overseeing the Battlefield franchise in 2021, not long after the disappointing launch of Battlefield 2042. In an IGN interview this week, Zampella revealed a few details on what we can expect for the next game. The name of the game is still unknown.

The next Battlefield will return the modern setting from Battlefield 3 and 4 - the last three were WW1, WW2, near future - and will ditch two features that made Battlefield 2042 unique at launch (in an unfavorable way for many): the 128-player map and specialists, who replaced classes with characters that had special abilities and gadgets.

Zampella told IGN: "I don't understand the reasoning behind the specialists, but it seems to me that the team has tried something new." "You must applaud this effort. You have to try new things, even if not everyone likes them. It didn't fit. It didn't work. Specialist is not coming back. Classes are the core of Battlefield and we're returning to them."

Zampella stated that they are "designing something more akin" to previous Battlefields and that he would "rather have nice dense, really nice well-designed play areas" than a large number just for the sake.

Zampella hasn't shared many details beyond that. But the big picture he's painting is: We're returning to Battlefield 3 & 4.

Zampella told IGN that if you think back to the pinnacle or peak of Battlefield it was the Battlefield 3... Battlefield 4 period where everything was modern. "I think we need to get back to what Battlefield is, and do it amazingly well. Then we'll see how far it goes."

He then went on to describe BF3 and 4 in terms of "peak Battlefield-ness" as well as the "heyday" for the series. However, he also mentioned Battlefield 1942 just to appease old guys like me.

EA isn't entirely clear about what the next Battlefield will be. But we do know that many studios are working on it: DICE (which created the cool custom server feature in Battlefield 2042 called Portal) and Criterion. Ridgeline Games was also working on a singleplayer Battlefield game, but the studio closed before any details were released.

Zampella told IGN, that despite EA's expansion of the Battlefield franchise, the "core Battlefield" players are still the priority. He said that they need to be re-engaged and earn their trust.

Battlefield 2042's final season was released earlier this year, allowing the development team to fully focus on the next game. According to Zampella they are now "play-testing the game every single week." My guess is that Battlefield 6 will be the name of the next main series title to emphasize its connection with Battlefields 3 and 4. But that's only a hunch.

IGN's article contains more of Zampella’s comments about the future of Battlefield. It sounds like we will be seeing a reveal next year. The concept art that appears at the top of the article is brand new and could contain clues as to what we can expect. Again, naval battles?