Battlefield 2042 certainly took some time to develop into the shooter it is today - we know that by the fact that DICE has only just fixed the game's core maps nearly two years after launch. It seems to be in a much healthier place these days though, and as it turns out, Xbox Game Pass was a huge driving force behind the changes DICE made.
In an interview with GamesRadar, the Battlefield developer talked in-depth about 2042's 'long road to redemption', including how much of a factor the Game Pass launch was in improving the title.
"I'm a big believer in programs like Game Pass, and for us it was a huge moment – something we marked on the calendar. One thing we talked about internally quite a lot was that if there was a moment in time where we were going to open this game up to a whole bunch of new players then it needs to be good. It needs to be the game that we wanted it to be when we launched it, and that really galvanized the team as we charged towards that date."
It's actually somewhat surprising to us that DICE would put such an emphasis on a 'Game Pass relaunch', but then again, it did arrive via EA Play which will have brought its own influx of new players too.
Season 5 for Battlefield 2042 recently launched on all platforms, bringing a reimagining of a classic Battlefield 4 map among other content drops and gameplay tweaks. Season 6 has been confirmed for the future too, but for now, we don't have a timeline on the launch of DICE's next 2042 season.