For a long time, Call of Duty players have been making memes and semi-serious jokes about the state of cosmetics and promotions in the franchise. It has essentially evolved into Fortnite, but for an older demographic. Well, Battlefield 6 noticed that & decided to take aim and fire a shot at Call of Duty in its latest live-action trailer– even featuring big names such as Zac Efron, Jimmy Butler, Morgan Wallen, and Paddy Pimblet, just to make a point:
Basically, EA and DICE decided to hire these big names as cameos in their live-action trailer for Battlefield, present them in Call of Duty-style skins, and then have them killed off by properly-uniformed soldiers. While there’s no explicit wording about Zac Efron’s squad representing Call of Duty, the jab was well-understood as a renewed promise from Battlefield 6 devs that they will not be going the same route with cosmetics and promotions.
Unsurprisingly enough, this kind of move from Battlefield 6 has drawn praise, particularly in the comment section, with the top comments saying, “I love how we all know exactly what this was a middle finger to.” Others were initially worried since the first half of the trailer could’ve been easily misinterpreted as Battlefield caving in to promotional pressure, “They had us in the first half, not gonna lie.”
Battlefield 6‘s devs have taken a different approach; it was more open compared to its predecessors, and its players were involved in the development, though its open beta was not without complaints (which was arguably the point of a beta). It appears this community-focused development approach is paying off: “This is what being in touch with the gaming community looks like,” as summed up by one comment.
Battlefield 6 Actually Compete?
But let’s face it, the Call of Duty franchise grew bigger and more profitable (especially for its investors) in part due to its flexibility in incorporating pop-culture promotions. If Battlefield 6 were to compete based on the promise of its live-action trailer, it would need some serious firepower. Trying to poach Call of Duty’s dissatisfied fanbase is a good start. However, some collaborations and promotional skins might be inevitable in the long run, especially given the size of Battlefield 6’s production budget.
Even games such as PUBG couldn’t resist such temptations, especially once Fortnite started showing just how profitable “lore-breaking” skins and promotions are. Hence, I’d argue that Battlefield 6 would do well to look at Helldivers 2‘s example on how to keep skins and promotional cosmetics manageable while also exciting the playerbase.
Helldivers 2 notably signed up collaborations with similarly serious intellectual properties such as Killzone and Halo, with interest in branching out into collaborations with Warhammer 40K and even Alien. Such an example from Helldivers 2 could be Battlefield 6‘s chance to compete while still satisfying both the players and corporate targets. Last I checked, there are also plenty of disgruntled Tom Clancy game fans.
