‘Battlefield 6’ Will Avoid Something ‘Call Of Duty’ Players Hate

There is much talk about the “Fortnite-ification” of various video games these days, where that no longer just means everyone making a battle royale, but in terms of how microtranscations for a game are conceived of and executed.

Fortnite’s endless string of superheroes and video game guest stars and even celebrities feels pretty standard at this point. Call of Duty has been doing something similar for years, but is now getting into fairly ridiculous territory with releases like Nicki Minaj, Seth Rogen, Beavis and Butthead and American Dad skins that frankly feel absurd in the formerly grounded world here.

Now that Battlefield 6 is on the horizon this fall, DICE has commented about how they’re not planning to go down this same path:

“It has to be grounded. That is what BF3 and BF4 was — it was all soldiers, on the ground,” design director Shashank Uchil told dbltap. “I don’t think it needs Nicki Minaj. Let’s keep it real, keep it grounded.”

If you’ve seen any of the footage or previews of Battlefield 6, you might imagine how absolutely absurd it might be to see Homer Simpson or Batman running around these explosive modern military arenas. I mean, you can say the same about Call of Duty, and players are saying that, but the dam has sort of burst over there. Here? DICE seems to want to nip that idea in the bud.

However, the truth is…these skins likely wouldn’t exist if they didn’t sell. If goofy crossover skins weren’t moving cash through Call of Duty, they likely wouldn’t keep making them. Even if the consensus is that these skins are ridiculous, there is likely a contingent of quieter players who are in fact actually buying them in bulk.

This is also EA we’re talking about, so I do wonder that if Battlefield 6 isn’t selling enough Battlefield Coins or whatever, they might be pushed closer and closer to more extreme skins. Though we do have some examples of games avoiding this like Helldivers 2, which has consistently (more or less) maintained its visual identity with its cosmetics added over time. Hopefully Battlefield 6 can do the same.

As for Battlefield 6 and Black Ops 7 going head-to-head this fall, there is some sense that BF6 may have a real shot at dethroning the king at this point. It almost instantly got 500,000 wishlists on Steam, has an immense amount of social chatter, millions of trailer views, the list goes on and on. But Call of Duty is Call of Duty. It doesn’t lose to any game not named Hogwarts Legacy or Grand Theft Auto. It would, however, benefit from more steep competition, which is what Battlefield 6 may give it this year.

Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.