I don’t know about you guys, but I am plenty excited for the release of Battlefield 6 from Electronic Arts and DICE. Their “go to market” strategy has been a masterful stroke of piquing interest with timely trailers and screenshots of gameplay.
Part of that was the multiplayer reveal they made during a live stream on their YouTube channel. You can watch the replays of the Multiplayer Reveal here on the official Battlefield YouTube Channel:
Also part of that day was the selected gamers who ran the game on their Twitch channels for the rest of us commoners to watch.
There are a lot of things that EA and DICE are doing right with this version of Battlefield. Let’s talk about them.
There has been a growing complaint in the gaming community, specifically regarding the disparity between the size of downloads and the storage capacity of gaming consoles. The average console from either Xbox or PlayStation is 500GB to 1TB, which limits the number of games that can be added to the console. Of course, there are external hard drive options and additional internal storage options that can be employed for those applications.
If we look at games like “Call of Duty,” which has had downloads in the 300-plus GB territory, “Destiny 2”, which averages 165 GB and up, depending on what DLCs you have included, and other popular games, you have to make a choice between what you want active on your consoles without the use of additional storage.
I am very excited about the download size for Battlefield 6. It has been confirmed that the maximum download size for both console and PC players is 70 GB. That’s one third of the last Call of Duty offerings. That allows for more game choices without having to play the download and delete roulette.
In contrast, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 will be a base download of over 200 GB. Still a whopping 1.5 times bigger than Battlefield 6’s 70 GB.
I’m not sure how you felt about it, but I thought EA and DICE did a great job promoting Battlefield 6. Between the trailer releases, promotional images, livestreams of the beta release, and the ability to gain early access to the Beta through verified Twitch streamers, it was a well-oiled and directed PR machine that built hype at all the correct times.
Each snippet release provided you with something new about the game. Never did I feel like I was being force-fed information; instead, this direct and concise PR move left me wanting more.
Typically, it seems that most PR movements favor the “quench their thirst with a firehose” approach, rather than a streamlined and straightforward promotional cycle, as seen with Battlefield 6. Now, that doesn't mean that they weren't hitting all social media outlets with images and clips; it means that they were focused on what they were highlighting in each phase of the release from EA and DICE.
Each release focused on introducing something new to the game, featuring elements that were noticeably different from those in Battlefield 2042. Most would agree that's a good thing; I am sure of that. 2042 was a decent game, but it left a lot on the table and was largely overlooked by the first-person shooter crowd. Notes were clearly taken, and those changes were made. Simple enhancements, such as area destruction and improved graphics for both the game environment and the planes and tanks, as well as a more realistic appearance for the guns themselves.
Being able to have the hype machine ready for the live Beta release, with members of EA and DICE taking the stage to acknowledge how the ball was dropped on previous releases and how they were addressing the issues for this and future releases, was huge. THEY HEARD THE FANS! Following that up with the ability to watch real gameplay, rather than an AI-generated game engine video of what gameplay could look like, was also vastly important; it prepared us fans for the Twitch streams that were to follow.
Speaking of those Twitch streams, we fans were allowed to watch an approved Twitch channel that we liked, and if we signed up and watched for an hour, we received a special code for a special BETA play period that could only be accessed if we signed in with the code received from the Twitch stream views.
This was important because it rewarded the fans with something special and not available anywhere else. Honestly, who doesn’t love a good exclusive for a game, book, movie, or band that they love? Again, another genius move, in my opinion. It gave you the feeling that you were playing something special and unique. As a gamer, it was fun to be able to brag to my friends who didn't have the opportunity to join the livestream or the Twitch streams that I got to play the special early-release beta, while they didn't get to play it for themselves. No matter what, there is nothing quite like that good old feeling of having a leg up on the competition, even if it is your closest friends. Especially then!
Let's not pretend that First-Person Shooters are going away anytime soon. The genre is wildly popular, and we see more games in this genre being released every day. And, more likely than not, the size of the average gaming console will not exceed the currently existing 500 GB or 1 TB.
The combination of those two prospects means that more and more games need to follow the lead of Battlefield 6. Give us gamers more reasons to buy your games.
And for those of you who experienced the very early access beta play, I think you’ll agree that this game is giving us lots to look forward to (it was also the largest beta release in gaming history). Whether you play Battlefield 6 or Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, we all want the best that the game developers have to offer. Based on what we are seeing in game trailers and early access beta plays, this is indeed what's coming, but we need the Call of Duty folks to come in line and release smaller game files. Yes, the 200 GB is smaller than the 300 GB we saw in previous releases, but those file sizes are still too large.
You may agree with me. Or, maybe you’re fine with the delete and download roulette required to move games in and out of your console. Either way, let me know in the comments below, or join our Circle. For just a few measly George Washingtons every month, you can come talk nerdy with all the Couch Soupians.
