Activision is apparently not that worried about Battlefield 6 competing against their online multiplayer FPS franchise, Call of Duty.
Why Activision Should Be Paying Attention To Battlefield 6
Battlefield 6 will be the first new game in the franchise in four years. 2021’s Battlefield 2042 was a critical flop at launch, and it took years before EA said that it had become profitable.
EA chose to reboot Battlefield even before releasing Battlefield 2042. They already saw the game’s problems in development, and decided that the franchise needed big sweeping changes.
Because of this, EA brought together a bigger team to make Battlefield 6, with DICE now one of five studios dedicated to the game. They also put Respawn Entertainment head Vince Zampella in charge of production. Zampella proved he could adapt to the current live service market with Apex Legends.
While EA reportedly still made mistakes in Battlefield 6’s production, there was still a lot of interest and hype for this reboot. Yesterday the open beta had nearly 50,000 players queued up waiting to be able to play.
What Activision Thinks Behind The Scenes
Insider Gaming has a source claiming that Activision isn’t that worried about Battlefield 6. They are paying attention to how EA’s game will be doing, but they don’t think it will be serious competition to Call of Duty.
Activision leadership supposedly believes that Call of Duty is too big to fail. They believe the franchise will continue to be hugely profitable for the next few years. In fact, there are four annual Call of Duty games already planned for the next four years.
Should Activision Be Worried?
A lot of gamers and content creators are talking about how Activision should be concerned about Battlefield 6. The Ghost Of Hope, a well-known leaker for Call of Duty rumors, opined that they should be worried for once.
The narrative is that Call of Duty is becoming increasingly unpopular, because of many poor decisions they have been making in the recent games. Battlefield 6 has emerged as a viable alternative that could give gamers the fun that they’re looking for. EA DICE even leaned into this when they said that their game won’t need Nicki Minaj.
Activision Has History On Their Side
Battlefield fans and Call of Duty haters alike need to reckon with the historical record. Even when Battlefield went head-to-head against Call of Duty twenty or so years ago, they were always a little bit behind.
We are definitely talking about how Call of Duty historically outsold Battlefield, but it’s also true that Activision’s franchise has been more consistently critically acclaimed compared to DICE’s franchise.
Maybe EA’s new plan breaks apart that pattern completely. Zampella came from Call of Duty himself, so he just might know what’s really needed to compete against it.
Zampella also proved he’s still relevant with Apex Legends. In comparison, Mark Rubin was not able to make XDefiant sustainable even after a successful launch. But these games don’t always depend on one man to get everything right. Battlefield Studios will all have to have come together to make a real contender.
