There is currently a technical preview being held for the upcoming EA shooter Battlefield 2042. To be a part of this preview, players had to sign an NDA stating they won’t share any details or videos of the test. But as you might expect, some folks aren’t taking the NDA seriously. EA says this is a mistake and warns that players breaking this agreement may find themselves banned from playing 2042 when it releases later this year.
As reported by Eurogamer, not long after the technical preview went live earlier this week for some players on PC, people began to upload and stream footage of this early 2042 build. EA began yanking these videos off the web as fast as they could, but this being the internet, it’s basically impossible to scrub the net clean of EA’s still-in-development shooter.
That leads us to yesterday, when EA firmly reminded playtesters of the NDA they signed and warned them what might happen if they continue to break it.
Adam Freeman, lead community manager at EA Studios Europe, shared a series of tweets and updates on Twitter about the ongoing BF2042 preview. He explained that EA has already got a bunch of useful data, shared news that the PS5 portion of the test has been canceled this weekend and other tidbits. But Freeman ended his thread with a series of warnings.
“Codes for Xbox have started to roll out,” tweeted Freeman “And if you’re thinking about sharing them to a friend, don’t - they won’t work. You also don’t want to share your account information with folks either, that’s going to end badly for you. Super Badly.”
He continued, reminding folks that get access to this preview are under a strict NDA that forbids any videos, screenshots, and streaming. He also explained that breaking this NDA could result in strikes against channels. He ended the thread with a warning that breaking the rules could have long-term consequences.
“Break the rules, expect to lose access to both the Technical Playtest, future EA Tests, and potentially access to 2042 itself when it releases,” said Freeman. “We’ve already removed plenty of people from the Playtest in these past 48 hours, and they won’t be able to play this weekend.”
This seems a bit harsh when compared to how Microsoft and 343 handled the Halo Infinite technical preview last month. Players who were involved in that test were freely allowed to stream footage of the game and share information about it. We even wrote about it on this very site a few times. However, it seems EA and Dice aren’t keeping things as open with their tests. This could also be more of a scare tactic than a real plan. Kotaku has reached out to EA about these warnings.
Regardless, if you are currently testing Battlefield 2042 this weekend and want to play the full game when it launches on October 22, 2021, I’d avoid streaming it.