Month: May 2021

As the old World War II adage goes, “loose lips sink ships,” and it looks like the upcoming Battlefield 6, due to be officially announced in June is leaking like an upside down dreadnought. A number of leaks have appeared throughout the internet, supposedly showing off numerous vague looks at what we can expect from the next large-scale FPS franchise entry.

Rocket and Storm images

Back in early May, Twitter user Tom Henderson — known for reliably leaking multiple bits of Battlefield information in the past — confirmed two leaked images were from Battlefield 6. One image features an aerial shot of a large rocket ship launch pad while the other features a classically immense map of an island populated with several large buildings  as it’s swarmed with VTOLs.

“I’m not going to RT or share for obvious reasons… But yes, the 2 #BATTLEFIELD images that have been leaked in the past hour are real,” Henderson wrote. “I’m not sure why the leaker has decided to capture the exact same shots (although the heli shot is a few frames out) but the screen grabs where [sic] likely captured via zoom or something like that – Which explains the low quality. We’re not long away now. :)”

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Images from a supposed trailer leak

More than 50 images, supposedly from a leaked Battlefield 6 trailer, leaked on May 24. Unfortunately, because the depths of the internet thrive on trolling, they’re all branded with the “lol guy” meme. So it’s a bit difficult to make out what we’re seeing in the images, posted to Imgur.

The album shows off the same island image we saw in the previous leak, plus a number of shots of soldiers being shot at. We also see what appears to be a robotic dog, like the infamous Boston Dynamics bots. The rocket from the first image can be seen blasting off into the sky, rocket flames burning up the ground beneath. Unfortunately it looks like no one’s visiting the moon anytime soon, as the rocket is misfired — or maybe struck by enemy fire — and shoots into the adjacent tower.

These images reinforce the rumor that Battlefield 6 will have a near-future theme, eschewing the previous World War 1 and 2 motifs and returning to something more resembling Battlefield 3 or 4.

More video footage

A TikTok video (first spotted by VG247) previously teased supposed footage of Battlefield 6, but PC Gamer reports that the footage is not from any official trailer, and was never intended to represent the game to the public. Odds are it could simply be internal footage shared at EA and developer DICE, or footage compiled mid-development, before final revisions are made.

The TikTok video appears to have since been taken down, but VG247 reports that footage of the previously seen robot dog appears. It also includes first-person footage of the previously-leaked squad scene, along with a HUD that looks very familiar for Battlefield fans.

What we know for sure

So after all those leaks, what do we actually know as of late May? Well, EA debuted a few brief snippets of footage showing off some visual effects they’re using in Battlefield 6 during last year’s EA Play, including facial rendering, smoke effects, building collapses.  You can watch that in the video below.

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In a financial call earlier this month, EA confirmed that four studios are collaborating on Battlefield 6: EA DICE, Criterion, DICE LA, and EA Gothenburg. EA also confirmed Battlefield 6 will release for current and past-gen consoles as well as PC, with EA saying the game will take “full” advantage of current console hardware. EA is placing Battlefield’s release date in Q3, sometime between October and December.

You can follow our coverage of the next Battlefield as more details come to light. Another EA Play event is coming in 2021, and while EA hasn’t confirmed its presentation schedule, new information would certainly be welcome during the fan show.

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Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/medic for IGN.

GameStop’s Memorial Day 2021 sale is now live. It runs between May 25 and May 31, and it features deals on games for PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch, plus PC accessories and collectibles. There’s a lot to get to, so let’s dive in.

Lots of first-party Nintendo Switch games are on sale for $40, including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Yoshi’s Crafted World, and Splatoon 2. A whole bunch of PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X games are also deeply discounted.

GameStop’s Memorial Day Sale 2021

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And if you go the previously-owned route, you can save a lot more cash. Not only are the used game prices cheaper than even the discounted prices on new games, but there’s also a used game promotion going on for Memorial Day 2021. If you buy two pre-owned games under $20, you’ll get a third one free. That’s a great deal for anyone looking to bulk up their gaming collection quickly and cheaply.

All of these deals go away after Memorial Day 2021, so be sure to grab them before Monday, May 31 comes to an end.

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Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert at IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.

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Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick recently said in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz that he believes that the additional sales and revenue that the video game industry racked up due to the pandemic represents a “permanent shift.” This follows Take-Two’s year-end earnings report last week, where the publisher cited a “transformational shift in entertainment consumption” that would benefit not only the company, but the video game industry as a whole.

“Interactive entertainment is now the number one entertainment vertical in terms of revenue, and I guess people still don’t fully realize that,” Zelnick said. “And a good deal of that growth was driven by people either discovering or rediscovering interactive entertainment and its social aspects during the pandemic. And what we’ve found is that while certain trends should be expected to moderate, that shift is permanent.”

Zelnick further clarified that he believes that the social aspects of popular games are driving this growth. He said that consumers who enjoy “shared entertainment experiences” are coming into the video game market, similar to those who enjoy going to theme parks or watching movies together. Additionally, Zelnick said that Take-Two would like to take its popular core brands and extend them into the mobile space, similar to what Activision did with Call of Duty Mobile.

The interviewer also asked Zelnick for his thoughts on the ongoing Epic Games and Apple lawsuit, which some observers feel will likely have a large impact on how the revenue pie is split up in the future. Zelnick stated that he’s not really concerned about the outcome, because Take-Two will continue to meet consumers where they are. However, he did predict that platform-holders will take smaller shares of revenue in the future.