Battlefield 2042‘s post-launch support officially ended following the conclusion of its seventh in-game season in June, with DICE and EA now looking towards whatever project comes next for the franchise. Despite its problematic and underwhelming launch, the release did extremely well to bolster its content and boost its reputation through its many post-launch updates, leaving the game in a much better overall state once this support ended.
Besides the fact that Battlefield 2042 will not be receiving any more major content, DICE has smartly implemented a system that will see past seasonal events from 2042 be continually repeated, allowing the game’s playerbase to still have a sense of change via fresh experiences even with official support having ended. This seems like a very consumer-friendly way to increase the longevity of older titles, and Call of Duty could absolutely learn a lesson from this approach going forward.
Call of Duty Should Do More For the Playerbases of Older Releases
Following the trend of most popular multiplayer titles in the modern gaming space, Battlefield 2042 adopted the live-service approach, continually adding content through in-game seasons long after the game was released in 2021. This avenue of content delivery was ultimately a blessing for the title, which famously received heaps of criticism around the time of its launch thanks to its barebones multiplayer-only experience, and DICE has done extremely well to flesh the game out over the past three years.
While nothing is currently confirmed regarding the next Battlefield project, it can be assumed that DICE is working hard on the development of the next game, with post-launch support for 2042 now having ended. That said, DICE has confirmed that a wide range of past 2042 seasonal events will be in constant rotation for the foreseeable future with brand-new gear and cosmetics even being planned for a Halloween event in October.
This will tide fans over in the wait for the next Battlefield release, while also keeping players who stick with the game occupied for years to come. Battlefield has long had to contend with the giant that is Call of Duty and this kind of post-life care is something that is not present in CoD releases, regardless of how a new Call of Duty title is released every single year. Of course, Call of Duty has also fully integrated itself into the same live service approach as Battlefield, with modern CoD titles also having their own range of seasonal in-game events.
Call of Duty Has the Same Tools as Battlefield To Create Fresh Experiences
While things like operator and weapon skins can now carry forward between releases in general for Call of Duty, it is still a shame that CoD releases are essentially denied any gameplay shake-ups once their year lifespans expire. Many fans cannot afford to keep up with the annual premium release schedule of Call of Duty, and Activision could easily rotate a given title’s seasonal content to give these players something to continually look forward to.
The most recent CoD title, Modern Warfare 3, is a great example of a game that has a huge wealth of past seasonal events to potentially pull from, padding out the content of the game long after the upcoming release of Black Ops 6. While holiday events like Santa’s Playground could make returns around their respective dates, Activision could also make an effort to rotate other events like Critical Countdown, Retro Warfare, and Wildlife Most Wanted.
These events could come with brand-new progression pathways, or simply allow players to gain past rewards that they may have missed out on the first time round, ensuring that every player has the opportunity to enjoy the full breadth of the game’s multiplayer. Call of Duty has become known for its intensely rapid turnaround of in-game content, and it could easily take a page out of Battlefield 2042‘s book to use this to continually freshen the experience of its older games going forward.
