According to EA, DICE is "considering building and testing" cross-play for Battlefield 2042. This all sounds like a "maybe" at best for cross-play, but EA says that PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S cross-play will be tested in the invite-only "Battlefield 2042" technical alpha this summer. It's hard to test something that hasn't been made, and now that it's summer, it's clear that DICE is doing more than "considering" this idea. I would even go so far as to say that "Battlefield 2042" will have cross-play, EA is just giving them room to delay the feature if necessary.

While the blog post continues to avoid definitive language ("We want people to understand what we're going for"), it does state that cross-play between PC and current-gen consoles, cross-progression, and "cross-commerce" support are "expected" in "Battlefield 2042" (We want people to understand what we're doing."). This means that players will be able to play against console players, as well as transfer progress and in-game purchases between versions.

PC and console players can also choose not to play each other, EA said.

One thing you can't opt out of is AI bots to help fill the servers, but you probably won't encounter many if you're matched with the entire player base of PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5. That's at least one of the expectations of crossplay.

The PS4 and Xbox One versions of "Battlefield 2042" are also crossplayable with each other, but they will be confined to their own little worlds. This is because, as previously announced, the 64-player version of "Battlefield 2042" will be supported on older generation consoles, while the 128-player version will be supported on PC and newer consoles.

"Battlefield 2042" will be released on October 22 and will probably include cross-play, but if that feature does not come in time or EA changes its mind about it altogether, it must admit that it is technically "not promising anything beyond 'under consideration'" There is no way. (Maybe the DICE engineers have been writing code with their eyeballs lately.)

After "Battlefield 2042," next week's EA Play Live will see a new throwback mode from Ripple Effect (the studio formerly known as DICE LA). The mode is called Hazard Zone and is not a battle royale mode, EA claims. (At least they've been clear about that.)

As for the technical alpha, it's still "don't contact us, we'll contact you."