The next Battlefield: back to basics, possible return of Community Test Environment (CTE)

EA is cooking up its next-generation Battlefield game that we're all slowly getting hyped for, with ex-Infinity Ward and Apex Legends boss Vince Zampella heading up the Battlefield team for EA... and man, we're hearing some cool things like the return of the Community Test Environment (CTE) in the new Battlefield.

The new Battlefield is going back to its roots -- at least -- returning to its former Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4 glory, with EA wanting to move far and away from the clusterfuzz that was Battlefield 2042. Vince Zampella is the head of Respawn Entertainment and EA Studios GM, recently speaking with IGN confirming and teasing some new Battlefield details.

Zampella said that the era of Battlefield 3, which was released 13 years ago in 2011, and Battlefield 4 in 2014 which is now 10 years old, as the series' peak. BF3 and BF4 had a 64-player max per match, which will be the same format for the new Battlefield, as well as its old class system -- see ya later, Specialists -- with a modern-day look that looks to take place in 2025-2030.

Zampella was open with the fact that the team has been playing the new Battlefield "nearly daily for well over a year" and that EA is planning a "large-scale, community-driven" test program for Battlefield... another major good sign after the mess of the last couple of Battlefield games.

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Zampella on Battlefield's peak: "I mean, if you look back to the peak or the pinnacle of Battlefield, it's that Battlefield 3 / Battlefield 4 era where everything was modern. And I think we have to get back to the core of what Battlefield is and do that amazingly well, and then we'll see where it goes from there. But I think for me, it's that peak of Battlefield-ness is in that Battlefield 3 and 4 days".

Zampella on new Battlefield maxed at 64 players: "Yeah, the 128 player, did it make it more fun? Like...doing the number for the sake of the number doesn't make any sense. We're testing everything around what's the most fun. So like you said, the maps, once they get to a certain scale, become different. It's a different play space, and I think you have to design around that. So we are designing something that is more akin to previous Battlefields. I'd rather have nice, dense, really nice, well-designed play spaces. Some of them are really good. I can't wait for you to see some of them".

Specialists, yeah they're gone: "So I wasn't there for 2042. I don't know what the rationale was, but for me, it's like the team tried something new. You have to applaud that effort. Not everybody liked it, but you got to try things. It didn't work. It didn't fit. Specialist will not be coming back. So classes are kind of at the core of Battlefield, and we're going back to that".