EA has shown off a glimpse of its next Battlefield game, as it begins what it describes as its “most ambitious community testing program in franchise history” – an initiative known as Battlefield Labs.
Fans can sign up now, with the first testing phase beginning “in the coming weeks”. The launch of Battlefield Labs comes, EA says, as its work enters “a critical phase in development that will benefit from collaboration with the community like never before”.
Anyone who signs up will need to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) in order to test classic modes such as Conquest and Breakthrough, the game’s returning class system, as well as “new ideas”. (I wonder if that includes the mode that developer Ripple Effect is working on, which some suspect to be a battle royale?)
The next Battlefield game is being developed by a huge group spread across four major EA teams, now working under the umbrella name of Battlefield Studios. As previously announced, this includes franchise creator DICE, splinter studio Ripple Effect, Star Wars Squadrons and Dead Space Remake maker Motive, and Criterion, the veteran UK studio behind Burnout and Need for Speed.