Battlefield 2042 will no longer launch next month, on October 22. Instead, EA and developer Dice have moved Battlefield 2042 to November 19, 2021.
In a new statement posted to Twitter, Dice chief executive officer Oskar Gabrielson attributed the delay to obstacles posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, noting it has "created unforeseen challenges" for the team. Dice has transitioned to a work-from-home system for safety precautions but hoped to reunite the team in its studios closer to launch.
Rumors that EA and Dice were considering a delay began earlier today, originally speculating that the launch would move to 2022. GamesBeat reporter Jeff Grubb also raised a possible date change on a bigger title earlier, calling it "delay season" after a series of other triple-A titles have announced new 2022 dates.
Dice announced its plans for a Battlefield 2042 open beta earlier this month, which was scheduled for September 24. The new message from Dice states that "Updates on the Open Beta will be coming later this month," so it's not clear when or if the planned preview will take place.
Since 2020, the games industry has continued to see a pattern of setbacks and delays related to the ongoing pandemic as teams try to cope with unprecedented challenges posed by the public health crisis. Recently, we've seen Dying Light 2 move in February of 2022, while Life is Strange: True Colors will not see its planned Switch release until later this year.