Battlefield Portal was officially announced today during EA Play Live. Rumors about this mode for Battlefield 2042 have been circulating for a while now, but today the news was officially confirmed. Battlefield Portal is billed as a "community-driven platform within Battlefield 2042 that will let you create and find fantastic experiences made by the series' creative and passionate community."
Players will get to mix and match maps, weapons, vehicles, factions, gadgets, and the like from the past 19 years of Battlefield. Battlefield Portal will include a creation suite that allows users to customize settings, modes, and will even include a Logic Editor so that you can really build out your own spin on the Battlefield sandbox experience.
Change team ratios, victory conditions, restrict weapons, and pit different factions from Battlefield's history against one another. Want to see how a squad of players from Battlefield 2042 handles a team of soldiers from Battlefield 1942? You can do that.
EA, DICE, and Ripple Effect Studios will bring in content from Battlefield 2042, Battlefield 1942, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and Battlefield 3. This content includes visually upgraded maps, weapons, vehicles, and more. Here are just a few samples that EA and DICE shared on what you can do with some of these settings.
As an example of what you can do with the Settings, here’s a small selection you can use in Battlefield Portal at launch.
- Factions - for the first time in franchise history you can battle across different Battlefield eras, choosing which soldiers, weapons and vehicles can compete on the battlefield. Want to pit an 1942-era team against foes outfitted with modern weapons and tech? Go for it.
- Mobility - using Battlefield 2042's Settings, you can disable/enable players' ability to Aim Down Sights, go prone, and more. We're giving you the options that allow you to play these Battlefield experiences as authentically as possible or to instead enjoy them with the conveniences of modern gaming experience. For example: If you want a more authentic Battlefield 1942 experience, you can switch off sprinting and disable health regeneration.
- Visibility - if you want to create a more Hardcore mode experience for your players, why not disable everyone's Heads' Up Display (HUD) and the minimap?
- Arsenal - Tired of getting dusted by sniper rifles or blown to pieces by tanks? You will be able to restrict weapons, specialists, gear, and vehicles that players have access to in your match.
- Scale - You can control the max number of players for each team as well as which weapons everyone has access to, creating as much balance or chaos as your heart desires. Why not pit 10 players armed with assault rifles against 50 players armed only with knives? Go wild.
Battlefield Portal will allow users to create "Experiences" that other players can join. Create custom games or make use of preset modes, such as Conquest, Team Deathmatch, Rush, and more at launch. You can also add AI soldiers as a team or as backfill while you wait for other players to join. Each of these Experiences are created when you first make a match and will remain online while the Experience has players active.
Like an Experience you played? Be sure to Follow that creator to keep track of when they're running matches. Creators will be able to share creations and give others permission to build on those Experiences with their own custom settings and logic changes. The most popular Experiences will be featured in officially curated playlists.
Speaking of logic changes, the team will provide players with a robust Logic Editor. This provides players with a visual scripting logic that allows creators to fine tune rules, victory conditions, consequences of specific in-game events, and more. Even these logic rules can be shared with others separate from sharing the full Experience.
DICE and EA say that progression in Battlefield 2042 will carry over across all modes, including the Battlefield Portal. They will talk more about this synchronized progression at a later date.
Of course, what would a love letter to Battlefield fans look like if there weren't some beloved maps, weapons, vehicles, gadgets, and the like also included?
Classic Maps
- Battle Of The Bulge (Battlefield 1942)
- El Alamein (Battlefield 1942)
- Arica Harbor (Battlefield: Bad Company 2)
- Valparaiso (Battlefield: Bad Company 2)
- Caspian Border (Battlefield 3)
- Noshahr Canals (Battlefield 3)
- 40+ Weapons from 3 Theaters of War;
- M1 Garand, Panzerschreck, G3, M416 and more
- Plus the inclusion of Battlefield 2042's All-Out Warfare Arsenal.
- 40+ Vehicles from 3 Theaters of War;
- The Spitfire and B17 Bomber make their return alongside modern hardware such as the Quad Bike and Little Bird.
- Plus the inclusion of Battlefield 2042's All-Out Warfare array of vehicles.
- 30+ Gadgets from 3 Theaters of War;
- Reconnaissance items such as the MAV and Radio Beacon will be available as gadget selections alongside the Defibrillator and EOD Bot!
- Plus the inclusion of Battlefield 2042's Gadgets.
- Classic Factions will be making their return in Battlefield Portal as you remember them, allowing you the ability to mix and match between 7 different armies from the Classic titles as well as Battlefield 2042's Specialists.
- Armies such as 1942's UK, US, and Germany as well as Bad Company 2's US and Russia will feature exclusively in Battlefield Portal.
- The return of Factions to Battlefield Portal, we will also mean that we are bringing back soldier archetypes as you know them to be within their relevant titles. As an example, Battlefield 3's Assault, Engineer, Support and Recon roles make their return in Battlefield Portal.
Battlefield 2042 and the Battlefield Portal will launch on October 22, 2021 for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. There is still one mode, Hazard Zone, that will be revealed at a later date. You can find out more about Battlefield 2042, right here.
