Battlefield 2042 won’t have voice chat at launch

Battlefield 2042 has arrived in its early access period, a week ahead of its public release on Nov. 19, but it’s missing something that some players might find crucial: voice chat. The feature won’t make its way into the game until sometime after the proper launch, developer DICE told Polygon.

Voice chat is much more effective than voicechat, however communication can be a lot harder. Battlefield 2042 does have a ping system with detailed menus to select exactly what you’re trying to highlight for your squadmates Unfortunately, using pings is extremely awkward and cumbersome, and requires tripping through several menus to get the right ping — rather than the smart ping system of games like Apex Legends.

Social soloists in all of these games will find it frustrating that there is no voice chat. Battlefield 2042’s modes, but it’s most noticeable in Hazard Zone. That’s the game’s squad-based tactical mode, which pits you and your three allies against several enemy squads and AI opponents. Hazard Zone is meant to be an extremely strategic, thoughtful experience. However, it lacks voice chat which makes it difficult for solo players to enjoy. It robs the mode of most of its fun if you don’t have a dedicated squad of friends to play with, whom you can talk to via Discord or your console’s party chat.

DICE didn’t explain its reasoning for excluding voice chat from Battlefield 2042’s launch, but the studio did say that it is working on the feature and that it should be added soon after release — though the developer didn’t specify when that might be. On Nov. 19, the game will be accessible to everyone on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4.