When Battlefield 2042 was delayed to November, DICE and EA promised they would announce more information on the game’s open beta this month. With just three days left to do so and no sign of any forthcoming announcement, rumors surrounding the beta are starting to spread. The latest comes via a leak from Bilibili, a Chinese site similar to YouTube. According to a streaming schedule page, the open beta will begin on October 6.
Battlefield 2042 has an official account on the website and the information on the site is likely to be genuine, although there’s some confusion over how it has been translated. There is no debate over the beta start date; the page states this to be 3PM local time on October 6, which would translate to 3AM ET or 12AM PT. However, the page also displays a date period of October 6 to October 9, and people are interpreting this in multiple ways.
Some believe this to be the full beta period, so it would end on October 9. This is unlikely, though. Those who have preordered the game get two days of early access to the beta before it becomes available to everyone, and the chances of the general public getting access for just a single day is practically nil. A translation by Twitter user @User_IDave suggested the dates actually implied those who broadcast the game on the site between those two dates would get a cash bonus for doing so. This is a much more likely explanation, so right now we don’t have an end date for the beta.
This isn’t the first time the October 6 Battlefield 2042 beta start date has been leaked. EA apparently sent out an email to streamers last week that confirmed an Early Access start date of October 6 and wider access for everyone beginning on October 8. This was then promptly spread on the internet by multiple sources, including renowned Battlefield leaker Tom Henderson. After today’s leak from Bilibili, Henderson said the official beta announcement from EA is scheduled for Wednesday, September 29 and it will be accompanied by a new trailer. Whether this will still be the case after the recent leak remains to be seen.
Looks like the #BATTLEFIELD Beta announcement (with trailer) is scheduled for Wednesday.
It’s unclear if the Bilibili leak will force them to release the trailer or not tomorrow though.
— Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) September 27, 2021
The official line is that we’ll hear about the Battlefield 2042 open beta before the end of September. Regardless of whether that turns out to be true, we do know the full game is releasing on November 19, after a brief delay from its original October launch.
[Source: Bilibili, @User_IDave on Twitter, Tom Henderson]
