Battlefield 2042 has received a new live-action trailer, and it’s not been particularly well received by members of the Battlefield community. The trailer currently has almost 2,000 dislikes on YouTube and the comment section is viciously roasting the minute-long video.
The trailer itself features real-world recreations of a range of scenes from the game, set to a cover of Iggy Pop’s iconic 70s track “Lust for Life." The trailer is fairly tongue in cheek, and there’s even a joke that Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady will still be playing professional football in 2042 and still earning MVP awards.
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While the trailer is definitely purposefully comical in nature, its reception has been less than stellar. Have a quick browse of the YouTube comment section and you’ll see large a number of fans blasting the trailer. One highly upvoted post labels it “physically painful” and another poses the question “this can’t get any more cringe, can it?”
One of the biggest complaints fans have with this trailer is that it doesn’t really fit the usual tone of the Battlefield franchise. Commentators have suggested that the jovial tone is more in line with shooters like Fortnite or Overwatch, whereas Battlefield has always been beloved for its more realistic deception of warfare — or at least realistic for a video game.
"R.I.P. Battlefield. It was a long good journey for us. But it ends here. Good bye, old friend," said one comment, perhaps melodramatically.
Another reason that the trailer has received criticism is its inconsistency with Battlefield 2042's previously explained lore. In-universe, by 2042 the Earth’s natural resources have been seriously depleted and conflict has broken out over supplies like water, food, and medicine. It’s a pretty grim future. However, this trailer centers on grinning soldiers declaring “what a time to be alive.” It feels at odds with the previous marketing materials.
Of course, the surprisingly strong backlash does beg the question: are fans taking this trailer a little too seriously? After all, it's just a brief promotional spot that is probably designed to appeal to players of games like Fortnite, in the hopes of convincing them to give Battlefield 2042 a chance this winter. There’s no indication that the comedic tone of this trailer will be present in the game itself.
Battlefield 2042 is scheduled to launch on November 19 on PS5, Xbox Series X and PC, as well as last-gen consoles. There was an open beta earlier this month, which suggested that the game has plenty of multiplayer promise but also a metric ton of bugs that need squashing before release.
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