Battlefield 2042 was just unveiled and the pre-order listing for the game went live on both the respective PS5 and Xbox Series X digital stores, but at completely different prices. The former is worth $60 and the latter is worth $70.
We have no idea if this is a mistake, but oh boy, do I have so many complaints if it’s not.
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Why is Battlefield 2042 $60 on PS5, $70 on Xbox Series X?
This could be an error, or at least it should be. If it’s not, we have a bit of a problem, as I doubt there’s any major difference between the two versions. But for a second, let’s assume it’s not an error and rationalize this decision.
The only minute difference that I could suss out between the two versions is that the Xbox Series X version comes with early access to the beta, but that doesn’t seem worth an additional $10. And why couldn’t a consumer opt-out of that and save money?
That’s before you consider that it will feature four seasons of content during its first year. This means there will be a Battle Pass per season with both free and premium tiers, new specialists, and maps.
All of this suggests EA believes that the Battlefield IP is strong enough to be a premium, above full-price experience complete with monetisation hooks not too dissimilar from the likes of PUBG, Fortnite, Destiny 2, Call of Duty: Warzone, and its own Apex Legends—all of which feature some form of recurring revenue in terms of seasonal content and battle passes.
Keep in mind that Battlefield 2042 doesn’t offer a campaign or a battle royale mode, so it already looks like it has its work cut out for it to be worth the price of a normal video game, but this differing price point just makes everything worse.
Hopefully, this is actually a mistake that’s corrected soon, but if not, I have a whole 2,000-word rant building up inside me. Stay tuned for more information as this story develops.