Battlefield 2042 open beta begins next week

The Battlefield 2042 open beta will begin on October 8 on all platforms, Electronic Arts announced today, or two days earlier—October 6—for EA Play members and anyone who has preordered the game.

The beta will include the Conquest game mode on the Orbital map seen in the Battlefield 2042 reveal trailer, with 128 players (64 players on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, sorry about that) fighting to control objectives on a large-scale map set in Kourou, French Guiana. Beta players will have access to four of the game's specialists—Boris, Casper, Falck, and Mackay, all of whom you can read more about here.

Battlefield 2042 beta downloads will be enabled for all players on October 5, with the early access period unlocking at 12 am PT/3 am ET on October 6. The beta will go fully open at the same time on October 8, and will run until October 10.

This is what you'll need to play:

Minimum:

  • OS: Windows 10 64-bit
  • CPU: Intel Core i5 6600K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600
  • RAM: 8GB
  • GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 560, 4GB
  • Storage: 100GB HDD

Recommended:

  • OS: Windows 10 64-bit
  • CPU: Intel Core i7 4790 or AMD Ryzen 7 2700X
  • RAM: 16GB
  • GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 or AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, 8GB
  • Storage: 100GB SSD

The above specs are for the open beta specifically, and may change for the full release. That, following a recent delay, is set to take place on November 19.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.