Tag: xbox

How much will Battlefield 6 sell when it released to gamers?

Battlefield 6 is proving to be an already huge hit with gamers. According to what I have seen, the game has some 1.7 million preorders. It is predicted to sell 5 million copies in its opening days.

This game is already a great success for EA and the studios worked on the game. However, how much more can it sell?

In my opinion, the Battlefield franchise has always been a big money maker for EA. There hasn’t really been a time when the games were obscure. Any dark horse games such as Battlefield Vietnam or Battlefield Hardline were still successes in the sense of having enough players to justify continuing the series. Some of this I can place to the general popularity of team-based FPS games. A single player FPS game such as Metal Eden, is rare now and multiplayer games often rely more on the player base to create their own stories not the people making the game.

Battlefield 6 is a hybrid game. It has a single player campaign, focusing on the battle between NATO and Pax Armata. However, this isn’t the main focus of the game.

The series for many years did not single player campaigns. Such campaigns are now becoming standard in the series. This gives EA more avenues to monetize the game and also move the series towards the cinematic style which really began with Battlefield Bad Company and then really started going with Battlefield 3.

The previous Battlefield games before Bad Company were more about sandbox gameplay with exception of Battlefield 2142. It is with that game that Battlefield began moving away from Sandbox with Conquest to a cinematic style with Titan Mode. The Titan Mode, the first truly objective oriented game style in Battlefield, moved Battlefield away from taking territory to a narrative about attacking huge floating ships in the skies. Such an objective mode was actually hinting at some order being put into those games.

Battlefield 6 shows the maturity of the franchise especially in comparison with Call of Duty which seems to be moving away from realism towards more abstractions. The newest game, Black Ops 7, is leading heavily into simulation in a futuristic setting here. Battlefield 6 is going back into modern warfare and players seem to be responding quite positively here. What this shows that Battlefield 6 will probably be better received than Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 this year.

I believe Battlefield 6 will probably sell more than what analysts are predicting. Once the game is released, people are going to remember why they love playing video games. Enjoyment is the goal of all video games, monetization comes later and that is what Battlefield 6 is showing here.

Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest and the journey into Space War

In the year 2002, Empire Earth got its only expansion pack, the Art of Conquest. The main addition to the maps in the game was the inclusion of space maps. The main issue with the maps is that it just didn’t fit with the engine of the game. Trying to graph a space geography onto what was a game ostensibly set on Earth throughout human history, was just going to be a satisfying product in my opinion. However, the developers made an effort, which is more than can be said for most games made in the current era.

In many ways, the Empire Earth engine also for a unique depiction of space combat here. There is no other game similar to this in the industry. Had Empire Earth continued as franchise, we would probably have had a more realistic looking space age. The developers’ efforts for an expansion done just a year after release is impressive. With more time, they could have smoothed out the gameplay even more and the game would have been even better.

There is one important aspect to Art of Conquest. It is an expansion that did not take years to make. The content in this game is comparable to many games now. While not the best quality, it shows that video games should not take a decade to make. I want games to come out more similar to Call of Duty not Grand Theft Auto VI. While GTA VI will be innovative, the amount of time passing to make such games is causing the video game industry to wrap around these titles.

What we see here is an ability to get projects done quickly and competently.

This is what the video game industry should be approaching making their games and maybe it will seem like it is not moving like molasses but having actual change and growth.

What makes the Battlefield series special in comparison to other FPS Games

Simply put, it is the combined arms nature of Battlefield which makes it so enduring. There are so many video games that having shooting in them. However, only one truly integrates vehicular combat and infantry combat together.

This is why in its opening week in this month; players will once again complain that this is not the game, they though it was. However, it is simply Battlefield, a series uniquely standing out amongst a crowd of imitators.

The Call of Duty crowd are always complaining on the streams about how slow it is. Some players enjoy that sandbox experience. Think of it is as similar to Arma rather than the run and gun games.

The run and gun games are really boring and I stay clear of them. What I want is teamwork and strategy.

This is why I have gravitated towards RTS games and in the Battlefield 2 era, I loved the idea of the Commander mode.

Battlefield 6 is that type of game for a person who wants to be more than just a frontline soldier. I think the only game that I really enjoyed the frantic run and gun battles was in the Star Wars Battlefront games. However, those games were different in their maps, vehicles and weapons. Star Wars lends itself to such frantic style of gameplay. However, modern combat is more grounded in the realities of combat in the here and now. Call of Duty is simply too quick for me.

Battlefield provides what Call of Duty cannot, a sense of cohesion in the chaos. How much cohesion is up to the players. Some play in clans or groups and act like squads with precision. Most of the time it’s just organized chaos in here. However, that’s really the way I like it.

Call of Duty Black Ops 7 looks interesting, but the gameplay is simply too fast for me; the game seems to try to recreate the arena shooters of the 1990s, where reflexes were the key to victory.

Battlefield 6 will be successful simply because it is trying to appeal more than players with fast reflexes. Everyone can play a role; sometimes a player wants to be more than soldier running and gunning.

This is why I am looking forward to enjoying this game.