The next Battlefield will reportedly be called Battlefield 2042

(Image credit: Leaked image)

The next Battlefield game will take us to the far-flung future of "21 years from now", if rumours of a potential Battlefield 2042 are true.

Filling in the middle ground between series debut 1942 and the mech-filled warzones of 2142, the next Battlefield will supposedly take us into the near-future when it's announced later this week. This tracks with the many, many leaks we've seen of the game so far, with footage showing us slightly-futuristic gunships and war robots battling across tropical beaches.

The namedrop comes thanks to a Redditor citing details shared by "some random dude who dropped it in the [dataminer Tom Henderson] Discord Server". The leak suggests 2042 will have the "biggest maps in Battlefield history", formed of "Sectors" each sized at around the scale of a Battlefield 3 map. These sectors contain multiple points, and cannot be reclaimed once secured.

Teams will be able to take one hero-style "Professional" per class, coming with an extra gadget or two to enhance their role (the post suggests a Medic with healing darts that can heal from a distance). A revamped attachments system also gives you two slots to swap in and out on the fly.

The leak also suggests that a beta is incoming later this month, following a private testing session for big content creators & streamers. Of course, we won't have to wait that long to find out if any of this is true—EA plans to reveal its next Battlefield game this Wednesday, June 9th.

Personally, I don't think 20 years in the future is nearly far enough. Add another century to that date, Dice, and stop holding back from giving us the Battlefield 2142 successor we deserve.

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.