Remember that rumor that EA was spending big money to promote Battlefield 6? It’s now getting some pushback from the people who would know.
The Original Multi-Million Dollar Rumor
Insider Gaming rumored that EA had a “multi-million dollar creator campaign” to promote Battlefield 6. Some of these rumors got confirmed. EA did fly over content creators to the Battlefield 6 reveal event. The company made arrangements so that the creators could play the game in the days before the reveal, and they could then share their previews immediately afterwards.
You can read a firsthand account from Kotaku contributor Zack Zwiezen here. As a marketing blitzkrieg that followed two weekends of open beta, it was a very successful event. Zwiezen was sure that the whole event was a huge expense. He detailed some of the things that that money surely went to: a high security venue, catering and hotel for three days, etc.
Were The Creators Really Given Multi-Millions?
But what were the creators really paid? Insider Gaming claimed it was ‘substantial amounts of money’, and one source said it was ‘the most amount of money I’ve seen for a sponsored deal.’
This rumor was carefully worded to imply that some creators could have gotten a million, or they spent a million in total to cover payouts for several creators. However, they fell short of saying their sources confirmed that that was the case.
That takes us to The Ghost Of Hope, a popular source for Call of Duty rumors. He tweeted this yesterday:
EA/DICE are paying content creators thousands upon thousands of dollars to playtest and advertise Battlefield 6… Creators who went to the Battlefield 6 NEXT event for example got paid a minimum of 10k to attend with a top end of 300k for someone like TimTheTatMan.
He then doubled down when asked:
We knew this yes but the fact they’re still on payroll to playtest the game is not public AFAIK.
Content Creators Finally Speak Out
This claim finally got some of those creators who were at the event to speak out. We’ll put the spotlight on Onepeg’s response:
This isn’t true.
Only about 15% of the attendees got paid.
The rest got the flight and a hotel room and got to play the game early.
Was good for hype and their channels for viewership, to be sure, but this number is straight out of his ass
YourBigBrotherSteve also cleared the air on what he received:
Don’t know where this guy thinks he got his info from. But I did not get paid 10k for LA Event.
I got flight and hotel and Uber voucher paid for. That’s it lol.
CAMIKAZE78 and SgtDangerCow cast doubts that leakers like The Ghost of Hope knew the situation. Riloe then argued that creators actually have an incentive not to look biased and ruin their reputation.
As of this writing, TimtheTatMan hasn’t shared a response on social media, at least from what we’ve found.
Which Side Is Right? Should We Take Sides?
You may see this as a matter of he said/they said. Nobody at the event corroborated The Ghost Of Hope’s or Insider Gaming’s claims.
It is a common occurrence that a trusted source for rumors gets on or a few rumors wrong. Sometimes it’s a bad source, or someone gossiping in bad faith. More recently, literal misinformation spread from misinterpreted half-leaked information.
It’s always a good idea to be skeptical of any rumors or claims. But did you see how easy it was to believe rumors that content creators are on the take? We have to be careful about these ‘credible’ stories as well.
