Battlefield 2042 Won’t Have Voice Chat on Launch – And I Think It Never Should!

This Friday will mark the official release of Battlefield 2042. A game which, I daresay, many of you are really looking forward to (likely in the hope that this will represent a huge return to form for the franchise). Following a report via Polygon late last week, however, DICE confirmed that, at least for the initial release phase, the game would not include any kind of internal voice chat. In other words, if you planned to play this with some friends, presumably with the intention of communicating verbally, you were going to need some kind of out-of-game solution (Discord for example).

With DICE saying that they would be looking to implement a voice chat feature shortly after the game’s release, however, is it a worthy argument to suggest that they shouldn’t bother at all?…

Battlefield 2042 – No Voice Chat on Release!

I have played games online for nearly 25 years now and if there is one thing that experience has taught me, it’s that while there are many nice and friendly people out there, there is also a significant portion of them (and some would argue the majority) who simply view any kind of communication within a game as a means to troll or abuse other players. – Many of the Call of Duty titles over the last ten years have included voice chat as an integrated feature. If you’ve played any of those various games, you’ll undoubtedly be aware of the kind of sewage that comes out of peoples mouths.

I couldn’t even begin to estimate the number of people who have claimed to have had sexual relations with my mother. Let alone the trend of voice cracking 12-year-olds who seem to treat using a certain racial slur (use your imagination) as some kind of full stop to complete every foul sentence they utter. – And no, I’m not trying to present myself as a ‘holier than thou’ figure either. I’ve gotten in more than a few of my own cutting insults on voice chat over the years. Unlike many I encounter though, I have my limits (usually by being overly/obnoxiously friendly to those attempting to upset me).

If there is one small mercy Call of Duty has though, it’s that their gaming lobbies are usually limited to a maximum of 24 people. As such, identifying, muting, and/or reporting exceptionally abusive and/or ear abusing individuals is not an overly difficult task. Frustrating? For sure! But it is manageable!

With Battlefield 2042 boasting player counts of up to 128, however, if Call of Duty is any kind of yardstick for them to judge their decision on, then the end game lobby will turn into nothing short of an open cesspit if voice chat is brought into the mix!

It Can Work, But With Some Limitations!

If DICE does introduce voice chat to Battlefield 2042, I think its implementation has to be very specific. Put simply, inviting 128 people to voice their opinion of each other in the end game lobby is going to be nothing short of a compelling argument as to why the human race isn’t going to survive the century. I don’t think it would even be passable if it was just limited to the 64 players on a particular team. – No, if this is the road DICE is going to go down, I think it has to begin and end with squads. You talk to your other squad members, and that’s it! – It’s honestly the only way I could potentially see the sanity, sensibility, or ears of the average casual (individual) player surviving!

It should be noted though, that the comments from DICE on the subject are not definitive. It does seem that the decision as to whether they will add voice chat in Battlefield 2042 is still being decided. And this isn’t just in its implementation but on the more generic level of whether they’re going to bother adding it at all!

For me though, I think it’s quite possibly just a recipe for disaster. And if DICE wants any kind of evidence on that, maybe they should have a few rounds of Vanguard.

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!