DICE Hints At Free-To-Play Mode In Battlefield 2042

Call of Duty: Warzone is a popular free-to-play battle royale mode spun off from one of the two major modern shooter titles. The other such franchise, EA/DICE's Battlefield, just revealed its latest installment this morning, Battlefield 2042, and it might also have a free-to-play battle royale experience.

Battlefield 2042 will be set in the near future and feature a "'what if' scenario of societies crumbling in the face of violent climate changes and diminishing resources." It will have three "gameplay pillars," two of which have been revealed: All Out Warfare and Hazard Zone. Today's announcement on the PlayStation blog dropped plenty of details regarding All Out Warfare, while saying only that Hazard Zone is "a modern take on multiplayer that's a 'high-stakes, squad-based game type.'" Notably, it was explicitly stated to not be a battle royale.

That third mode, however, is as yet unknown. Given the success of Warzone, a battle royale would seem to be a likely wager, and another tidbit of info might hint at its payment model. As VG247 reports:

So, does Battlefield 2042 have any free-to-play experience? DICE general manager Oskar Gabrielson smiled when asked at the event, asking everyone to stay tuned.

We'll all just have to "stay tuned" to the news regarding Battlefield 2042 over the next few months -- it launches on October 22 on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 -- and see what this probably-free-to-play-maybe-a-battle-royale third mode for the game will be. Our guess? It's a free-to-play battle royale.