Next ‘Battlefield’ Reveal Happening Next Week
Where the Battlefield franchise is headed will finally be answered next week. DICE and Electronic Arts announced a reveal event for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC military shooter next Friday.
According to a post on the official Battlefield Twitter account, the next Battlefield will be unveiled at 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT on Friday, May 6. It includes a link to a countdown timer on the official website for the world premiere.
See the future of Battlefield. The #Battlefield World Premiere is on May 6 at 4PM ET. https://t.co/YurgN6rLHW pic.twitter.com/7ULKB6LS47
— Battlefield (@Battlefield) April 29, 2016
The interesting part here is the post does not mention a version number for this entry in the Battlefield series. This year’s edition of the shooter is expected to be a mainline release and not a spin-off like Battlefield Hardline. That would make the title Battlefield 5, but the number is conspicuously absent in the announcement graphic.
Neither Electronic Arts nor DICE have ever mentioned Battlefield 5, however. The publisher never mentioned a sequel number in earnings call transcripts from this past January or July 2015 when discussing the game.
Rumors of where the next Battlefield is going have been at an all-time high and demonstrate an incredible amount of discipline from Electronic Arts that nothing has leaked in the form of images or video. There are still a few days left, though.
The Battlefield series got its start as a World War II shooter with Battlefield 1942. It jumped to the modern era with the sequel through Battlefield 4, but also featured a leap to 2142 in a somewhat controversial spin-off with Vietnam, and two well-received Bad Company spin-offs.
There are rumors the game could leap forward to the future. Of course, there are other rumors that it could return to World War II.
The retail listing also pegged the game with an October 26 release date. Electronic Arts has typically targeted a late October release for the franchise to get it out ahead of the yearly Call of Duty release. Hardline was the exception due to its planned October 2014 release being delayed to March 2015 for quality reasons.
Electronic Arts has confirmed a holiday 2016 release for the next Battlefield.
“An all-new Battlefield game from DICE will arrive in time for the holidays, we’re excited to have a new Titanfall experience coming from our friends at Respawn and of course, Mass Effect Andromeda from the team at BioWare will launch later in the fiscal year,” CEO Andrew Wilson stated during a January earnings call covered by Inquisitr.
“You should assume that a Battlefield would come typically in the third quarter when we normally have it,” Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen added. “We’re not yet announcing when Titanfall or Mass Effect Andromeda will come, but you should assume that’s in the back half of the year as well because of second quarter is so dominated by our sports titles.”
The publisher’s fiscal third quarter takes place between October and December, which is expected, barring any unexpected delays.
This bring us to another interesting aspect of the competing products. Leaks show Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare coming with a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare remaster. This has touched off rumors in the BattlefieldReddit community that a Battlefield 1942 remaster could be on the way, as well.
Posters on the site point to a now deleted Twitter post from the official Battlefield account, which shows a clip of gameplay footage from the original game taken from a fan account on YouTube with a message at the bottom about the May 6 world premiere. You can check a video of the Twitter post and the gameplay clip below.
Where do you think the Battlefield franchise will head next? Sound off in the comments below.
[Image via Electronic Arts]
