Everyone has heard the woeful story of Battlefield 2042. It was released in 2025 to a miserable reception, marred by the weight of an intense array of bugs, glitches, and glaring issues. It had been stripped of a campaign and the multiplayer felt rushed, barren, and overall, disappointing. It has recovered somewhat after years of post-launch development, but the failure of the game forever marked the Battlefield franchise as something to be avoided.
Recently, Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek mentioned the development of Battlefield 2042 while streaming. He’s a former CSGO competitor who retired to become a content creator and has since amassed a following of more than 16 million people. He made a damning claim against DICE, the long-time developer of the Battlefield franchise.
Clear Frustration
In something of a rant during a recent stream, shroud revealed some home truths about the creation of Battlefield 2042. He alleges that DICE invited up to 100 content creators to contribute to the development of the shooter, leaning on expert advice and guidance to ensure the game’s creation was perfect. Ultimately, shroud claims that all the advice was ignored and DICE just did whatever they wanted to, leading to the failure of the game.
Here’s what shroud said while streaming on Twitch:
‘They asked and paid for maybe 60 to 100 content creators for their help. They did consulting with a lot of us. It started at like 60 or something, and then it got narrowed down to 40, and then 20, and then 10 or whatever it was. Did it a few times. They didn’t listen to a ****ing thing we said. Not one thing. Not one thing we said – not a single one. I mean, I got paid, but I couldn’t believe it. Like, we know what we’re talking about, we play games for a ****ing living. We don’t stop.’
On social media platforms, the response to shroud’s comments was a mixed bag. Some stood in solidarity with the superstar streamer, while others slammed him, claiming that he either doesn’t know what he’s talking about or isn’t giving the full story. For instance, one user claims that just because they’re content creators, that doesn’t mean they automatically know what’s best for the development of a game. It’s mostly subjective, after all.
Battlefield 2042 fell flat on its face at launch, that much is obvious. Perhaps if DICE had listened to the creators, things might have changed for the better. It’s too late to know the truth, as the product we can play now is almost nothing like it was when it was released in 2025 – and that’s a good thing.
