We know that Battlefield 2042 will ship with seven maps at launch, and DICE is packing a whole lot more content into those maps than ever before thanks to the expanded opportunities afforded the developers by the new hardware in the current generation of consoles. More destructible scenery, more vehicles, more props and more set pieces - hell, they even fit natural disasters in them!
Just how much bigger are these maps than previous ones, really? Luckily, this isn’t something DICE is leaving up for speculation - the developers shared a chart showing off the size of all seven maps in comparison to various popular maps from the history of the franchise, and in each case the 2042 map is significantly larger. Even the smallest map will offer players a large playing field to shoot and bomb to their heart’s content. On the larger end of the scale, we have Hourglass which looks to be 4 times as large as Hamada was in Battlefield V, whereas the biggest map, Irreversible, is over double the size of El Alamein from Battlefield 1942. In every case, we’re seeing momentous size differences compared to what previous titles offered, and we’re sure that the maps of Battlefield 2042 would put those of other series to shame as well. In a game series already packing huge maps in previous titles, cranking up the scale might seem a bit excessive - true enough, when the map comparisons were revealed, some fans spoke out saying how they perceived the community asking for tighter, smaller maps that promoted confrontations more frequently. However, the massive, destructible areas have been a staple of Battlefield and something many fans have come to expect from the series - it’s also one of the series’ calling cards, so to speak, and losing it would make Battlefield 2042 just blend into the competition.
Another factor to consider is the unprecedented lobby size of up to 128 players on the same map. With that many people running and gunning, you really do need the extra space - cramming this many players into smaller tighter maps wouldn’t just promote conflicts, but devolve into chaos very quickly. Player’s aren’t the only factor that need space in the game maps; DICE has added various environmental hazards that plague the maps, adding to the danger factor as you make your way to the next objective. These disasters include immense sandstorms that envelop cities and huge tornados that ominously tear through skyscrapers. To make these disasters deliver a real oomph, they had to be massive - and massive disasters need massive maps to utterly wreck. We’ll learn more about the exact layouts and mode distributions of Battlefield 2042’s maps at EA Play in July, but in the meantime you can read up on everything we know about the game already right here.
