Battlefield is one of the more divisive first-person shooters to come out in the gaming industry. If you heard of Call of Duty, Battlefield was not far behind. Maybe not in terms of cultural impact, but the two games were always considered rivals. One was a more arcade-style run and gun, while the other was a large-scale war simulator that tested the limits of a much bigger sandbox. There wasn’t a knockback to choosing either game, but Battlefield definitely played on a much bigger playing field, no pun intended. So let’s take a look at how it evolved by breaking down all Battlefield games in order of release!
One of the impressive feats by the likes of Battlefield is that the franchise has been around for over two decades. The first Battlefield game was released in 2002, which is 23 years ago! Gaming has come a long way since then, but this was the year that saw the birth of a really massive gaming franchise, one that is still making games to this day. With games like Call of Duty and Medal of Honor heavily focusing on the World War 2 aspect around the same time, it gave EA an opportunity to develop something new, and have their own twist on War simulators. Here are all the Battlefield games in order in which they were released:
And now we’ll analyse each game independently.
Image Credit: IMDB
The first Battlefield game in order of release is Battlefield 1942. It’s the game that started this epic franchise! From where we are today with skyscrapers falling over, to the World War 2 setting that kicked off what would be one of EA’s biggest franchises. BF 1942 introduced a mode in 2002 that remains with them to this day in 2025, conquest. Battlefield forgoed the traditional team deathmatch mode for something on a much larger scale, controlling objectives and areas of the map as opposed to just getting kills.
Image Credit: IMDB
Modern Battlefield games are complex and fast-paced but it was the earlier games that got the ball rolling, including Battlefield Vietnam. EA decided to skip to another period in time, one unique from the other World War 2 games that were being created at the time. In Battlefield Vietnam, players live through the Vietnam War in a gruesome, gritty setting, featuring prominent battle locations from the time period.
Image Credit: Steam
Battlefield started to get some traction as a direct competitor to the Call of Duty franchise, with Battlefield 2 being one of the first to move towards a modern setting; something its rivals had yet to do. Like its previous titles, the game was only available on PC. That didn’t stop the fanbase, however, with Battlefield 2 setting the stage for what would be more than two decades worth of modern games.
Image Credit: ModdB
Battlefield 2142 is a game that was ahead of its time, quite literally and figuratively. It is set in the future, with advanced weaponry, maps, and more. The game was also the first to be available on Mac! Sadly, consoles were still not getting any love despite the rise of the PlayStation and the Xbox. But that was about to change.
Image Credit: IMDB
Although the previous titles were all under the Battlefield banner, Bad Company is where EA really started to establish the Battlefield IP as a large-scale scale realistic war simulator. Gone are the days of just being on the PC because Battlefield: Bad Company took the game to the consoles with releases on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. This period was a boom for gaming, with the likes of GTA and Modern Warfare 2 all within similar timeframes. Battlefield also had its big moment with Bad Company.
Image Credit: IMDB
The original Bad Company was a great game, but Bad Company 2 was a masterpiece; a game that has been hard to top despite coming out 15 years ago. While building destruction has been visible in almost every Battlefield game since, this was the first real introduction to this style of gameplay with the new Frostbite 2 engine. The classes felt the most balanced they have probably ever been in a Battlefield game, offering so much variety to what is normally a more linear experience in today’s games.
It just felt like the developers really hit the nail on the head for what a Battlefield game is meant to play like. Fun modes, variety in weapon classes, maps that were solid across the board, and the graphics really being ahead of their time. This was a direct sequel to the original that came out two years prior.
EA and DICE were able to take Battlefield to a much larger audience as they were able to get their IP onto the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the highest quality of console at the time. We can also say that this game is the halfway mark of all Battlefield games in order.
Image Credit: YouTube
While Bad Company 2 will arguably go down as the greatest Battlefield game, many will say that it was actually Battlefield 3 that put the franchise on the map and right up there against Call of Duty. It’s a nostalgic feeling seeing the gameplay reveal for this game and being in awe at the advancement in graphics this game took. It really was a cut above for its time. EA had a formula that was working, and it provided a much-needed rival to Call of Duty.
While it was a risky move, EA tinkered with the gunplay again, making the weapons feel far more realistic as recoil became a major player in Battlefield 3, something that would continue even to this day. You didn’t just have the standard arcade-style shooting; weapons all had their own personalities.
Skill expression started to form in Battlefield 3, and it was all thanks to the realistic weapon changes. This was also one of the games that felt great on the PC, something we can’t say for every Battlefield title. Like BC2, the game just felt nice, there isn’t really much more needed to say than that. It was an overall good game from start to finish, not to mention the epic campaign.
Image Credit: IMDB
Battlefield 4 was the first one to be released on next-gen consoles (PS4 and Xbox One). It was a rocky time for gaming when the consoles shifted away from the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Developers were still struggling to make games for both the old and new gen consoles but hey, at least it released on lots of platforms.
Gameplay-wise, it just wasn’t ready to be shipped out, but pressure from EA meant the developers had to get the game out, not long after the release of Battlefield 3. The amount of bugs players found early on was absurd. And while it’s understandable given the game was rushed, it still wasn’t worth the money players were paying for, especially given they have just got the next generation consoles.
This meant that developers had to work effortlessly to get the game in good shape for the many months to come, and it’s safe to say they achieved that. Once everything was ironed out, the gameplay was one of the better parts of Battlefield 4. The gunplay was smooth, which wasn’t hard to achieve given how well they mastered it in Battlefield 3.
The classes were also getting more layers to them, with unique gadgets for each class, expanding the gameplay capabilities for each of them. Whether you were a scout using the vision gadgets or a run-and-gun with C4 blasting through walls, there was a gadget for everyone.
Image Credit: Steam
Battlefield: Hardline was still a large-scale Battlefield game, but it had more of a theming to it, dipping more into the cops versus robbers genre with unique game modes that fit this theme. It was a risky move that, unfortunately, did not pay off for EA. There’s not much to be said about this game really; it was weird, didn’t feel like Battlefield, and was generally an average game in all regards. This would also mark the end of modern-setting Battlefield games for the next six years.
Image Credit: YouTube
Battlefield 1 arrived during an unusual time period for fans of the franchise; they were let down by the previous two games, which prompted EA to take the franchise to World War 1. From the outside, this was a fantastic game, and I thoroughly enjoyed playing it for hundreds of hours. But the negativity of the player base was starting to grow, and I found myself unnerved by it. Despite this, BF1 became one of the most played games of 2016, with smaller unique story modes and an average campaign. Better than BF: Hardline but still far from the bullseye.
The Battlefield 1 campaign, if you could call it that, was an interesting implementation. Instead of a full-blown campaign, the developers did smaller linear campaigns from different parts of World War 1. Whether you were behind enemy lines in France or storming through the desert, each had its own story to tell. This was a model that would remain for Battlefield 5, too. While the varied missions were a lot of fun, it wasn’t the same experience that you would get with a lengthy campaign with characters you go on a journey with.
Image Credit: Steam
Battlefield V has gone down as one of the more divisive games in the franchise. The gaming community was at war with the developers, and many were let down by the fact that the game had still not returned to a more modern setting. This meant that players would have to wait another two to three years before they would potentially get their hands on another Battlefield title.
That being said, Battlefield V was not the worst game in the franchise’s history despite the horrible marketing leading up to launch. The game made slight improvements to the gunplay, which was one of the nicer points of the previous title, Battlefield 1. The spray control felt nicer, and it allowed more skill to be the primary emphasis, rather than random bullets accidentally hitting you in the head. When you got killed in BF5, it was because the player meant it.
Image Credit: Steam
The last of the Battlefield games in order is Battlefield 2042. Nowadays, BF 2042 is a solid Battlefield game, but it was horrible at launch, risking the future of the entire franchise. There were so many problems when the game first came out, such as not being optimised for the PC, which left half the player base unable to play the first modern Battlefield game in six years. On top of that, there was no story mode (thanks to EA shifting the game to online only).
Nonetheless, the game was under constant update cycles and eventually reached a point where it was stable enough to feel fun and exciting. Unfortunately, most of the player base left and only a small fraction of them would come back. From the start of 2025, the game never broke through the 20,000 active players count, and its lowest was in April 2025 with just 10,000 peak players.
The Battlefield franchise has covered numerous real and fictional conflicts throughout each release, so you could experience war on a grand scale. But arguably the most confusing part about Battlefield games in order is the naming system. It makes absolutely NO sense and if you didn’t look at the release dates, you wouldn’t know how all the Battlefield games in order would go. What do you think? Is Battlefield V an accurate name, or would Battlefield 11 be more fitting? Let us know in the comments below!
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