Mods for Battlefield 2042’s subreddit threaten to temporarily shut down the subreddit amidst toxic fan behavior

The moderation team for Battlefield 2042’s subreddit communicated on Thursday that they’re considering temporarily shutting down the subreddit in response to toxic behavior exhibited in the community. “It’s an understatement when we say that this subreddit has grown incredibly toxic,” wrote the moderation team.

The team noted a number of “insults, harassment, and vile comments” that were directed toward both members of the community and Battlefield 2042’s developer DICE in regard to the current state of the game. After notifying the community that the team would no longer tolerate the subreddit’s current behavior, the team presented three possible outcomes for the future of the community: If toxicity goes down, the subreddit will stay open as usual; if toxicity stays at a constant level, the team will lock numerous threads; and if toxicity increases, the team will temporarily lock the subreddit down. “The choice is in your hands,” the moderation team wrote. Moderators also noted that if toxicity persists, Reddit administration could potentially ban the community outright.

Many members of the subreddit were not swayed by the moderator’s words. Several replies carried aggressive, vindictive tones that berated both DICE and the moderators for allegedly protecting the game from criticism. “Defend the people who scammed the community and throw those who got scammed under the bus. Makes perfect sense,” wrote Redditor Scoth16. At the time of writing, many of the posts on the subreddit carried similar sentiments.

Quite a few of the subreddit’s top posts refer to “brutal expectations,” which is a nod to a now-deleted tweet made by EA communications director for shooters, Andy McNamara. “Love you guys but these expectations are brutal. The things you want take time to scope, design, and execute,” wrote McNamara in response to player criticisms of Battlefield 2042.

Seemingly offended by the tweet, several users on the subreddit produced various posts and memes mocking McNamara, and DICE at large, for perceiving the community’s expectations as brutal. “I’d really like the legacy scoreboard and K/D stats back, I understand that I have brutal expectations but it’s what I wish for,” reads one post on the subreddit.

McNamara later deleted his tweet on January 6 and apologized for what he referred to as unclear messaging, but the mockery of the phrase has persisted.

Battlefield 2042 launched in November 2021, and it has since come under fire by fans of the series for lacking a variety of features included in prior Battlefield games, including a single-player campaign, a class system, and scoreboards.

The moderation team’s threat evokes the memory of actions taken by the Halo subreddit’s moderators, who shut down the subreddit for a weekend in December citing similarly toxic behavior directed toward 343 Industries following Halo Infinite’s launch.