Battlefield 2042 has once again disappeared from EA’s portfolio as the company “keeps a long eye on” the ailing franchise.

Overnight, EA released results for the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2022, along with a full-year report. Although the subject of eternally troubled Battlefield 2042 came up in a chat with investors, the game has all but disappeared from the publisher’s portfolio.

As every quarter, EA has provided a concise look at its finances in the form of colorful slides [PDF]. The Q4 slides list what the company considers “active” games on PC and consoles during the quarter. This basically covers the games that continue to make money for EA during this period.

It includes everything from sports monsters FIFA (sorry, EASFC) and Madden to ongoing live service hits like Apex Legends, EA Play subscription service and the latest Battlefield release… Battlefield 5.

The Battlefield series doesn’t really get a lot of lip service in the full review [PDF]neither, but it’s quite revealing that EA is keen on never bringing up Battlefield 2042 unless special asked about it.

No wonder investors did bring up Battlefield 2042. In a Q&A following the earnings announcement, EA executives were asked to clarify why the publisher has remained silent on franchise news.

“We’re taking a long-term perspective here,” said CEO Andrew Wilson.

“This is one of the greatest franchises in our business, built by one of the greatest teams in our business. And we expect to continue to grow and be a really important part of our portfolio for many, many years to come.”

Wilson added that EA will continue to invest in the Battlefield series, but first it has to “get to a point where we feel like we’re in the right place with the core experience and gameplay [of 2042].”

To get there, DICE will “rethink the development process from the ground up” and change the Vince Zampella/Respawn development model from “get[ting] as soon as possible for fun.”

Zampella naturally took over the Battlefield franchise in a major reorganization by developer DICE following the disastrous launch of Battlefield 2042. The management reshuffle saw the departure of studio general manager Oskar Gabrielson.

This is actually the second ongoing quarterly report that EA has decided to promote and bury Battlefield 5 in 2042, and it’s not entirely without merit. Even from the outside, Battlefield 5 clearly has a much larger community than 2042, making it the most active game in the series by default.

While DICE continues to work lethargically on major Battlefield 2042 overhauls, the game has yet to receive any significant new content since its release last November, and players are understandably returning to Battlefield 5 to find their fix.