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Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag Try a single issue or save on a subscription Issues delivered straight to your door or device From£35.99Subscribe now Essential Hardware Abiotic Factor Dune: Awakening PC Gaming Show Recommended reading EA is reportedly betting the farm on a Battlefield 6 battle royale mode modeled after Call of Duty: Warzone The Battlefield subreddit is an endless feed of leaked Battlefield 6 gameplay, and it might be the best marketing campaign of 2025 EA reportedly expects Battlefield 6 to bring in 100 million players, a number that even DICE devs don't think is feasible 'It's the definition of insanity here': The Battlefield subreddit's good vibes nosedive into outrage after DICE announces there'll be no class weapon restrictions in Battlefield 6 EA thinks it got Battlefield right this time, projecting confidence to investors in advance of a summer reveal: 'When we get it right, Battlefield is a giant franchise and often the biggest shooter in the year' Every time a new shooter launches, I start a countdown until it becomes a clown show of brands and hideous skins Call of Duty Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 – All the key details on the next Call of Duty Call of Duty Call of Duty is firmly in its slop era, and now it's Battlefield 6's game to lose Morgan Park 23 July 2025 Battlefield has a chance to eat Call of Duty's lunch, but we'd be fools to believe EA will stick the landing. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: EA/Activision Blizzard) MORGAN PARK, STAFF WRITER (Image credit: Future) This week: Played loads of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 and realized he never really knew what he was doing in THUG 2 for the PS2. It's increasingly impossible to ignore how ugly Call of Duty has become. In the last few months alone, Black Ops 6 and Warzone have been infiltrated by cel-shaded Beavis and Butthead, American Dad, Jay and Silent Bob, and the Ninja Turtles. Black Ops 6 is the latest casualty of Call of Duty's slop era: A parade of cartoonish cosplays, dizzying VFX, and Party City dress-up skins that, in just a few years, have eroded an identity Activision spent two decades building. None of that is news, but how players are reacting to it is. Despite the popularity of absurd skins, there's a funk in the air. A lot of people are finally acknowledging the sorry state of Call of Duty, and they're particularly repelled by those Beavis and Butthead and American Dad skins that could've been ripped straight out of Fortnite. The straw might have finally broken the camel's back, and if that's the case, Call of Duty's oldest rival has an opportunity to put the "military" back in military shooters. Related Articles EA is reportedly betting the farm on a Battlefield 6 battle royale mode modeled after Call of Duty: Warzone The Battlefield subreddit is an endless feed of leaked Battlefield 6 gameplay, and it might be the best marketing campaign of 2025 EA reportedly expects Battlefield 6 to bring in 100 million players, a number that even DICE devs don't think is feasible EA's pitch for Battlefield 6 is essentially what bleary-eyed Call of Duty fans wish Activision had in mind: No named operators with alternate costumes, just generic, artistically consistent soldiers. It's going for simple, boots-on-the-ground modern military fare directly inspired by Battlefields 3 and 4. Will Battlefield 6 also have ugly crossover skins? Time will tell, but the last few Battlefields have shown some restraint with immersion-shattering outfits. Once again, @Battlefield.You have an open goal to roll the ball into.PLEASE. DON'T. MISS. https://t.co/2pD3jxM5xPJuly 17, 2025 What we know is that Battlefield 6 playtests have looked darn good: Dusty urban maps, crumbly destruction upgrades, and no goofy wingsuits to be seen (though it sure was fun to fly in BF2042). Maybe time will prove me wrong, but I think it's telling that EA chose to announce Battlefield 6 with this key art: (Image credit: EA) Four soldiers, each representing a class, with their faces turned away from the camera. The focus isn't on the individual, it's on the action. (By the way, is that New York blowing up? Uh oh.) The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Battlefield 6 is positioning itself as a throwback to simpler, slightly less greedy days for multiplayer shooters, and folks are latching on to it. But we'd be fools to be confident EA is gonna stick the landing. As promising as BF6 looks, there are some red flags—number one being an Ars Technica report that detailed EA's expectation that Battlefield 6 have 100 million players, a figure it plans to achieve by releasing a full-priced Battlefield 6 alongside a free battle royale mode. Maybe there's an opening for Warzone players to jump ship, but Call of Duty prioritizing a free-to-play audience is part of the reason it's gotten so bad. (Image credit: Activision Blizzard) Then there's the matter of classes. EA took a beating online after revealing Battlefield 6's weapons would be open to all classes like in BF2042—a deeply unpopular change among longtime fans that many assumed would be reversed given BF6's throwback posture. This week, EA finally caved, saying an upcoming open beta would have playlists with closed and open weapon formats. Hey, listening to feedback is cool, but if Battlefield Studios leadership was that caught off guard by an impactful design choice people feel strongly about, you wonder what other tripping hazards are out there. It's super unlikely that Battlefield 6 will come out swinging so hot it outsells Black Ops 7 (and Game Pass changes that equation, of course), but as far as the cultural victory, this is Battlefield's year to lose. And lose it might: The last time Call of Duty and Battlefield faced off was 2021, a weak year for CoD that EA fumbled with an even weaker Battlefield 2042 launch. Thankfully, it got a lot better with time. Best gaming PC 2025All our current recommendations 👉Check out our full guide👈 1. Best overall: HP Omen 35L 2. Best budget: Lenovo Legion Tower 5i 3. Best compact: Velocity Micro Raptor ES40 4. Alienware: Alienware Aurora 5. Best mini PC: Minisforum AtomMan G7 PT Activision Blizzard Electronic Arts Battlefield 6 Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Morgan Park Social Links Navigation Staff Writer Morgan has been writing for PC Gamer since 2018, first as a freelancer and currently as a staff writer. He has also appeared on Polygon, Kotaku, Fanbyte, and PCGamesN. Before freelancing, he spent most of high school and all of college writing at small gaming sites that didn't pay him. He's very happy to have a real job now. Morgan is a beat writer following the latest and greatest shooters and the communities that play them. He also writes general news, reviews, features, the occasional guide, and bad jokes in Slack. Twist his arm, and he'll even write about a boring strategy game. Please don't, though. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. EA is reportedly betting the farm on a Battlefield 6 battle royale mode modeled after Call of Duty: Warzone The Battlefield subreddit is an endless feed of leaked Battlefield 6 gameplay, and it might be the best marketing campaign of 2025 EA reportedly expects Battlefield 6 to bring in 100 million players, a number that even DICE devs don't think is feasible 'It's the definition of insanity here': The Battlefield subreddit's good vibes nosedive into outrage after DICE announces there'll be no class weapon restrictions in Battlefield 6 EA thinks it got Battlefield right this time, projecting confidence to investors in advance of a summer reveal: 'When we get it right, Battlefield is a giant franchise and often the biggest shooter in the year' Every time a new shooter launches, I start a countdown until it becomes a clown show of brands and hideous skins Latest in Call of Duty Call of Duty: WW2 pulled from PC following reports of remote code exploit trolling players with 'Notepad pop-ups, PC shutdowns' and desktop wallpaper of a lawyer Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 – All the key details on the next Call of Duty What? Call of Duty is skipping over Modern Warfare 4 and releasing Black Ops 7 this year instead 'Why are they so greedy': Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 players are in disbelief to find bundle ads but Activision claims it's simply a 'UI feature test' that was published 'in error' OG Infinity Ward dev says Call of Duty's gone the way of The Simpsons: 'It kind of feels like they've run out of ideas at times' 'Be more like Larian, less like Activision': Ex-Call of Duty producer takes his old employer to task for prioritizing FOMO over quality Latest in Features How to survive as an indie developer for 20 years Square Enix's new murder party game is like Among Us in a mansion, with a hefty helping of team deathmatch Five new Steam games you probably missed (July 21, 2025) 10 years ago, Obsidian made the only D&D-style Monk I've ever really loved⁠—all it took was grounding him in harsh asceticism, mortification of the flesh, Aztec history, and stoner comedies I've been obsessed with a single dialogue choice in an underappreciated Obsidian game for 10 years, so I tracked down the guy who wrote it to learn everything about my favorite joke in RPG history This tactics RPG set on a floating New York City could be the next great noir videogame HARDWARE BUYING GUIDES LATEST GAME REVIEWS Best PCIe 5.0 SSD for gaming in 2025: the only Gen 5 drives I will allow in my PC Best graphics cards in 2025: I've tested pretty much every AMD and Nvidia GPU of the past 20 years and these are today's top cards Best gaming laptop in 2025: I've put the best of this new generation head-to-head and we have a winner Best gaming chair in 2025: I've tested a ton of gaming chairs and these are the seats I'd suggest for any PC gamer Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads Razer DeathAdder V4 Pro review Wuchang: Fallen Feathers review Abiotic Factor review Alienware Area-51 review Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 ARGB review PC Gamer is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. 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