EA Lays Out How Battlefield 2042's Portal Content Creator Will Work

The Battlefield 2042 team has let loose with more details about the Battlefield Portal mode in a blog post today. As previously announced, Portal will let players create customizable matches using elements from a variety of Battlefield titles. At launch, there will be several "default" experiences for the mode, and from there players can use editors to change things up, making simple alterations like map selections and health values, or creating wildly unrealistic scenarios matching units and tactics across vast time frames.

You can access the Portal website even if you don't own Battlefield 2042. From there, you can create experiences -- from a template or completely on your own -- and share them with others. The core modes are Conquest, Conquest Large, Rush, Free-For-All, and Team Deathmatch. After selecting that and choosing your rotation from 128 maps, the next step will be choosing fundamental rules, like the number of players, respawn times, availabilty of vehicles, and so forth. After that, you can choose to use elements from different eras of Battlefield, so if you want that WW2 vs. 2042 experience, here's where you set it up.

Then things can get really weird. The rules editor is an in-depth scripting tool that lets players set a wide number of parameters for their matches, and it's got useful in-game help functions to make it easy to figure out exactly what does what. Examples given include "Dynamite vs. Claymore face off" or "How about the David and Goliath setup of Launchers on Team 1, vs. Helicopters on Team 2?"

You can even generate a URL to share your experience with a friend, so they can work on it independently. Once you're finished, you can generate a code to share it with the wider community, but you'll always remain in control; nobody can alter your experience without the URL.

With this powerful tool, Electronic Arts is clearly hoping that Battlefield 2042 has a shelf life that's unmatched by other titles in the genre, or even other Battlefield titles. Player-built experiences like this one could keep the game fresh, and keep players purchasing, for years to come.

Battlefield 2042 launches November 19 for PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.