In a recent EA Play Live spotlight this week on Battlefield 2042, DICE/Ripple Effect confirmed that “fan favourite maps” from previous Battlefield games would be returning in a mysterious new mode – that may be the rumoured “Battlehub”.
At around the 7:00 mark in the EA Play Live 2021 spotlight (below), DICE LA/Ripple Effect general manager Christian Grass talks a little about the mode the team is working on that hasn’t been shown off yet – although they confirm it will be revealed at the proper not-E3 EA Play showing later this month. Grass notes that “one of the components in this experience that we’re creating is that we’re adding some of the fan-favourite maps back into Battlefield 2042.” DICE’s general manager Oskar Gabrielson calls this new mode “something special” which will ship with Battlefield 2042 at launch.
All of this tallies with several rumours floating around regarding something nicknamed “Battlehub”, which was covered extensively by Tom Henderson in this video from June – who you may remember blowing up the internet last week with the rumours about GTA 6, which got corroborated by several sources.
On the Battlefield 2042 website, this game mode is referred to as “redacted” and is called “a love letter to our core fans” and “a new way to play Battlefield”. Tom Henderson suggests that this mode will be a fun “Battlefield Hub” sandbox experience containing remasters of old maps – which was exactly what Christian Grass just revealed.
Henderson later mentioned a few names that they’ve heard could be some of the remastered maps coming to this supposed “Battlehub” – while reiterating that Henderson has no idea if that’s the mode’s actual name or not.
The maps I've heard will be coming to the #BATTLEHUB:
Metro
Locker
Wake Island
Siege of Shanghai
Arica Harbor
Caspian Border#BATTLEFIELD2042— Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) July 8, 2021
It will be separate from the Hazard Zone experience, which will also be a sandbox mode but possibly closer to a battle royale mode. Oskar Gabrielson calls it “a high stakes squad-based game mode” and that it’s “not your classic battle royale… it’s also something the team has been thinking about for many years.” Hazard Zone, however, won’t be shown off until closer to Battlefield 2042’s release date in October. For now, fans will just have to wait until July 22 for EA Play Live.