Battlefield 3's lead designer has said that he's "astonished" at how Battlefield 2042 turned out.
You're probably sick of hearing this, but it's been an incredibly rough launch for Battlefield 2042 and possibly one of the worst launches for a game in some time. Its players are banding together for refunds, its publisher is disappointed in its performance, and now even developers who previously worked on the series are calling it out.
As reported by PC Gamer, Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3 lead designer David Goldfarb jumped on Twitter to speak out about Battlefield 2042. He said, "Boy I have some questions about that product. Really trying to understand why some of these design calls were made. Why are there no smaller infantry maps? Why was 128 player count a thing that didn't seemingly have any accommodation for infantry? Why are whole maps shipping without any detail art?"
Goldfarb continued, "Was no one in control of quality over there? Who thought this experience honored the BF sandbox experience and took it forward? I’m astonished that there were this many missteps even knowing the obstacles from higher up.and for all my friends and colleagues over there - ugh. Thinking about this now: but the best thing for DICE’s next would be to make 2143 and go forward in time and reclaim their mantle of combined arms badassery that they built their legacy on alongside a really unique IP they created."
Following his feedback, it seems that Goldfarb took it upon himself to start playing 2042, as a later Tweet shows that he's started the game and will be sharing his impressions of it after playing some of the other Battlefield games.
Goldfarb's comments are particularly impactful considering how beloved the two games that he acted as lead designer on are. Both Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3 are viewed as some of the best games to come out of the series, alongside Battlefield 4, which is a sore reminder of how things are now.