Battlefield is a military first-person shooter video game franchise developed by Battlefield Studios, primarily led by Swedish company DICE, and published by American company Electronic Arts. The series mainly focuses on online multiplayer, with gameplay taking place across large maps, and emphasizes teamwork and combined arms warfare.
The first installment of the franchise, Battlefield 1942, was released for Microsoft Windows and OS X computers in 2002. Since then, the series' installments have sold 88.7 million copies worldwide as of November 2022.
Gameplay The Battlefield games usually focus on large-scale, online multiplayer battles between two conflicting military forces; in Battlefield Hardline, the military setting is replaced with a "war on crime" between the police Special Response Units and the criminals. Playing in squads has become a major element of games in the series. Apart from infantry, tanks, airplanes, and other vehicles may participate in these battles. Since Battlefield 2, the series centrally recorded online stats for each player, allowing users to receive rank promotions and weapon unlocks based on their performance as well as awards such as medals, ribbons, and pins. While continuing to focus on large, online multiplayer battles, 2008's Battlefield: Bad Company introduced full single-player campaigns with more fleshed-out storylines. It was also the first game to use the studio-developed game engine, Frostbite, which introduced almost fully destructible environments; a feature that has since become one of the most well-known staples of the series.
The series' flagship game mode is "Conquest", where two teams of players attempt to gain control of the most control points until the other team's tickets (respawns) run out. To capture a control point, players must stand within the capture area until their team captures it. Should a control point be captured already by the enemy team, or should any enemy players contest it, players must eliminate all enemy players and/or neutralize the control point first by standing within the capture area. Captured control points may act as respawn points for players, though they can also respawn on squad members who are not in combat and specialized equipment carried by certain classes. Vehicles cannot spawn at a command post and must be obtained from the team's "headquarters", which act as the team's main spawn point. Battlefield V introduces the battle royale game mode to the Battlefield series, which merges the franchise's "core pillars of destruction, team play, and vehicles" with common elements seen in traditional battle royales, and Battlefield 6 introduces a knockout elimination mode titled "Gauntlet" where eight squads of four players seek to complete four sets of objectives while trying not to fall into the bottom two teams.
Outside of early versions of Battlefield 2042, the Battlefield series features a class system. Different classes are suited to different roles in combat. Historically, the series featured the Anti-tank, Demolition, Medic, Specialist, and Special Forces classes, before these were merged into other classes in later games. The classes as seen in modern titles was first introduced in Battlefield: Bad Company 2: the Assault, who specializes in all-round combat, Engineer, who carries out in-field repairs to vehicles while being equipped with anti-vehicular weapons, Medic (later Support), who resupplies and revives fallen allies, and Recon, who specializes in spotting enemies and using sniper rifles to engage in long-distance combat. The ability to engage other players in melee combat with a knife has been present in Battlefield games, but since Battlefield 2142, the series has included an award of dog tags for each player killed using a knife.
Games
+ Titles in the Battlefield series Year Title Platform(s) Engine 2002 Battlefield 1942 Windows, Mac OS X Refractor 1 2003 ■ Battlefield 1942: The Road to Rome ■ Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII 2004 Battlefield Vietnam Windows 2005 Battlefield 2 Refractor 2Battlefield 2: Modern Combat PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360 RenderWare ■ Battlefield 2: Special Forces Windows Refractor 2 2006 ■ Battlefield 2: Euro Force ■ Battlefield 2: Armored Fury Battlefield 2142 Windows, Mac OS X 2007 ■ Battlefield 2142: Northern Strike 2008 Battlefield: Bad Company PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Frostbite 1.0 2009 Battlefield Heroes Windows Refractor 2 Battlefield 1943 PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Frostbite 1.5 2010 Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Android, iOS ■ Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Battlefield Online Windows Refractor 2 2011 Battlefield Play4Free Battlefield 3 Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Frostbite 2 ■ Battlefield 3: Back to Karkand 2012 ■ Battlefield 3: Close Quarters ■ Battlefield 3: Armored Kill ■ Battlefield 3: Aftermath 2013 ■ Battlefield 3: End Game Battlefield 4 Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, Xbox One Frostbite 3 ■ Battlefield 4: China Rising 2013/2014† ■ Battlefield 4: Second Assault 2014 ■ Battlefield 4: Naval Strike ■ Battlefield 4: Dragon's Teeth ■ Battlefield 4: Final Stand 2015 ■ Battlefield 4: Weapons Crate ■ Battlefield 4: Night Operations ■ Battlefield 4: Community Operations ■ Battlefield 4: Legacy Operations Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One Battlefield Hardline Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, Xbox One ■ Battlefield Hardline: Criminal Activity ■ Battlefield Hardline: Robbery ■ Battlefield Hardline: Blackout 2016 ■ Battlefield Hardline: Getaway ■ Battlefield Hardline: Betrayal Battlefield 1 Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One 2017 ■ Battlefield 1: They Shall Not Pass ■ Battlefield 1: In the Name of the Tsar ■ Battlefield 1: Turning Tides 2018 ■ Battlefield 1: Apocalypse Battlefield V ■ Battlefield V: Overture ■ Battlefield V: Lightning Strikes 2019 ■ Battlefield V: Trial by Fire ■ Battlefield V: Defying the Odds ■ Battlefield V: War in the Pacific 2020 ■ Battlefield V: Into the Jungle ■ Battlefield V: Summer Update2021 Battlefield 2042 Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S Frostbite 2022 ■ Battlefield 2042: Zero Hour ■ Battlefield 2042: Master of Arms ■ Battlefield 2042: Escalation 2023 ■ Battlefield 2042: Eleventh Hour ■ Battlefield 2042: New Dawn ■ Battlefield 2042: Dark Creations 2024 ■ Battlefield 2042: Turning Point 2025 ■ Battlefield 2042: Road to Battlefield 6Battlefield 6Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S ■ Battlefield 6: Season 1 2026 ■ Battlefield 6: Season 2 ■ Battlefield 6: Season 3■ Battlefield 6: Season 4 Notes: ■ DLC located directly below the title it was released for.
† Was released exclusively for Xbox One in 4th quarter 2013, then was released for the remaining platforms in 1st quarter 2014.
Development history
Battlefield 1942 was released on September 10, 2002, using the Refractor game engine, and set in World War II. It introduced the "Conquest" gameplay mode, in which players fought for "control points" throughout the map. Two expansion packs were released.
Battlefield Vietnam, released in 2004, moved the setting to the Vietnam War, and was built on an updated Refractor engine with various gameplay improvements, such as the ability to fire personal weapons while seated in vehicles, and visualizing dense foliage.
The 2005 release Battlefield 2 takes place in the modern day, depicting a war between the United States and China and the fictional Middle Eastern Coalition (MEC). Despite requiring numerous patches due to a large number of bugs and glitches in the game upon its release, it was a large commercial success, selling more than 2,250,000 copies worldwide, by July 2006. One expansion pack, Special Forces, which added Russia, exclusive missions, and new weapons and gadgets, and two booster packs, Armored Fury (adding three new battles in the USA) and Euro Force (adding the European Union), were also released. A similar game called Battlefield 2: Modern Combat was released for consoles, with a larger single player mode but limited online play.
Battlefield 2142 was released in 2006, taking place during a global ice age in the 22nd century. While most of it is graphically similar to Battlefield 2, it introduced a variety of equipment to unlock and battles between two giant "Titan" airships. The Northern Strike expansion pack was later released, adding new maps, vehicles, and a new game mode. Its use of in-game advertising was controversial among players and not well received.
Battlefield: Bad Company, released in 2008, is set in a near-future war between the United States and Russia, and follows a US Army company's escapades and their search for hidden gold. This new Battlefield game had a variety of vehicles for land, air and sea. It had a new destruction system that allowed the player to break and destroy environments, based on a new game engine named Frostbite, which replaced the Refractor engine used in earlier releases (with the exception of Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, which used RenderWare).
In 2009, EA released two download-only games, Battlefield Heroes, a free-to-play Refractor 2 engine game, supported by advertising and micropayments and Battlefield 1943, a Frostbite engine game, released in July 2009, for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and was scheduled for release in Q1 2010, for PCs, but was cancelled.
In 2010, a sequel to Battlefield: Bad Company, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, was released, involving "B" Company's search for an electromagnetic pulse weapon. It features a larger multiplayer than its predecessor Bad Company, with updated graphics and realistic effects (e.g. bullet-drop). The game introduced the rush game mode and brought in weapons. It features a "VIP" system of content distribution where player with VIP codes gain early access to new maps. DICE also released an expansion for Bad Company 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam, setting the game in the Vietnam War.
Battlefield 3 was announced in 2009, and in 2010 it was confirmed that gamers who pre-ordered Medal of Honor Limited Edition would receive Battlefield 3 forty-eight hours before the open beta was released. On February 4, 2011, the first teaser trailer for the game was revealed, with a preliminary release in the Fall of 2011.Release-window announced Among the new features that are introduced in the game include fighter jets, attack aircraft, and the ability to go prone. The game allows 64 (on the PC) players as in all previous Battlefield titles, though the consoles allow for 24-player matches. The Battlefield 3 Beta was released on September 29, 2011. Battlefield 3 was released on October 25, 2011, and has received high review scores and has received awards from IGN.
On November 5, 2010, EASY Studios announced a follow-up to its free-to-play Battlefield Heroes, Battlefield Play4Free. EASY develops the free-to-play variants of Battlefield. Its latest offering gives players the same free-to-play pricing structure of Heroes, while still offering a more serious, core Battlefield experience (as opposed to Heroes lighthearted, cartoon-styled environment). Battlefield Play4Free went into open beta on April 4, 2011.
Battlefield 4 was announced on March 26, 2013. On July 17, 2012, it was announced that players who pre-order Medal of Honor: Warfighter would receive access to a Battlefield 4 beta. The beta for the game began on October 1 and ended on October 15 with a full release on October 29, 2013.
Information about the next entry in the series, Battlefield Hardline, was leaked on May 27, 2014, and officially unveiled on June 9, 2014, during E3. The game was developed by Visceral Games and, unlike previous installments in the franchise, is centered around a cops-and-robbers theme.