Earlier this year, EA confirmed that the latest Battlefield game was going to be available to play starting on October 22. However, with mere weeks to go from its intended launch, EA has announced that Battlefield 2042 won’t be available for a little while longer.

When is Battlefield 2042 going to release?

— Battlefield (@Battlefield) September 15, 2021 Just a few weeks ago, we covered reports about internal delays that were affecting Battlefield 2042. Back then, there were no hints that these delays were going to affect Battlefield 2042’s actual launch. Now, we’ve just received confirmation that EA is going to delay Battlefield 2042. DICE general manager Oskar Gabrielson dropped the disappointing news on Twitter earlier today. Gabrielson explained that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the studio to continue working on the game from home. Because of the circumstances, EA has no choice but to push the game’s release date back by almost a month. The silver lining here is that there’s a playtest that’s reportedly scheduled for September 22. In addition to this, Gabrielson confirmed that DICE is going to share more information about Battlefield 2042’s open beta sometime later this month. Nearly two years after it put the entire world on a standstill, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect multiple industries hard. In particular, the appearance of hew variants of the virus has forced governments to reconsider letting everything go back to normal. Several cities around the world are imposing lockdowns and restrictions once again in an attempt to curb infections. Thus, it makes sense that EA make the hard decision to take more time to work on Battlefield 2042. If we’re being honest, the upcoming Battlefield installment could probably use more time in the lab. It’s set to go up against tough competition later this year. Anything less than perfect could sour what was supposed to be the franchise’s return to form. Speaking of competition, EA’s original plans for Battlefield 2042 would have made it the first big multiplayer shooter to land this fall. Unfortunately, Battlefield 2042 now finds itself sandwiched between its two biggest rivals. Before Battlefield 2042 releases on November 19, players will have already had the chance to play Call of Duty: Vanguard on November 5. Meanwhile, Halo Infinite is scheduled for December 8. Battlefield 2042 will want to impress fans with its upcoming beta tests. Otherwise, gamers might decide to play Call of Duty: Vanguard or Halo Infinite instead.

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