Battlefield 2042 is tearing up the sales charts and review site score lists, but there is one feature it will lack at launch that has many scratching their heads: voice chat. A key component of most modern games, Battlefield 2042 won't enable it at all at launch. That seems especially jarring considering the Hazard Zone gameplay mode all but requires it and if you aren't going in with a team already on Discord or similar, that's going to be a problem.
Still, Battlefield 2042 just doesn't have it right now. It will, "ASAP," we're told, but it seems like a bizarre oversight for such an important feature. The reason, DICE claims, is that it believes coordinated squads will dominate the game mode to start with and that they will have others ways of communicating outside of the game. That might be true for a majority, but there's definitely a fair number of players who might have enjoyed those game modes solo, but can't really do so without a simple way to communicate with their team mates.
Text chat is still possible, and there's a quick-chat menu that can make simple requests like demands for ammo, healing and other support easier, but it lacks a lot of nuance and the simplicity of voice chat is that it doesn't require your hands for the message to be sent, freeing them for the all important tasks of running and gunning.
It's less impactful in other game modes, where a team of Rambos is just as likely to succeed as some more coordinated ones, especially with the game's tagging features which make it easier to help identify enemies for your teammates. But in Hazard Zone in particular, this lack of communication is going to leave solo queue gamers at a significant disadvantage until its introduced.
Battlefield 2042 launches officially on November 19, but early pre-order buyers and special edition orderers, will be able to play early on November 12.