Battlefield 2042 Will Receive Its Final Specialist In 2023

Battlefield 2042's fourth multiplayer season will add its 14th and final Specialist, developer DICE has announced, as the game pivots to a class-based system.

In a blog post announcing what new content players can expect in the coming months, DICE revealed that a new Specialist--coming as part of Season 4 in early 2023--will be the last new playable character coming to the game's roster.

"With the return of Classes and our roster of 14 in total, we are happy with the amount of Specialists and variety of gameplay that they will allow you to experience," DICE stated. "So our focus will be continuing to listen to your feedback in order to expand the sandbox in other ways by bringing design and balance changes for your class-based combat, along with continuing to expand on skins and cosmetics to give you more ways to stand out on the battlefield."

Specialists proved to be a controversial part of Battlefield 2042 from the start, with player-feedback leading DICE to make changes. Early next year, an update will tweak the Specialist system to be more similar to the class-based systems of previous Battlefield games, with each Specialist being assigned a class and a set of gadgets and equipment exclusive to that particular class. The game's final Specialist will be part of the Recon class, DICE confirmed.

In addition to the new Specialist, new maps and additional map reworks are also coming down the pipe. A reworked version of Manifest that will feature "a tighter playspace, improved visibility, cover and sightlines" will arrive in late December, with an overhaul of Breakaway coming in early 2023. The new Breakaway will move the map's iconic oil rig much closer to the rest of the action to create a "more focused playspace." DICE additionally teased a brand-new map coming as part of Season 4 that will be "smaller, shorter, and linear designed for up close and personal, close-quarters combat that Battlefield is famous for."

Though it won't include a new Specialist, DICE confirmed Season 5 is in the works, and will include a new map, battle pass, and more. DICE additionally teased that Season 5 will see the team "lean into previous games and how they can show up in the world of 2042," with the new map possibly taking inspiration from Battlefield 4.

It's been a long road for Battlefield 2042, which launched in 2021 with numerous technical issues that caused DICE to delay the game's first multiplayer season until Summer 2022. Since then the team has steadily improved the game through bug fixes, additional content, and reworks for launch content. Battlefield 2042 was recently added to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate as a result of it coming to EA Play.