Former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra spends his time today heading up a technically-not-gambling every day fantasy sports activities firm, however that does not imply he is bereft of ideas on videogames. Late final yr he opined that Marvel Rivals is simply an Overwatch ripoff (which didn’t sit nicely with PC Gamer’s Elie Gould) and now he is again to say that this yr, Battlefield 6 goes to stomp Name of Obligation’s guts out.
He really used the time period “boot stomp” however given the subject material—army shooters—I believe my selection of wording is extra on-point. Anyway.
“Battlefield will boot stomp CoD this yr,” Ybarra wrote on X. “However the true win right here is CoD received’t be lazy anymore, and we’ll all get higher FPS video games for it.”
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He defended his decide in a subsequent reply submit, saying Name of Obligation “has gone downhill for years” since Infinite Warfare in 2016. ” It is a mess. Dishonest, heavy UI/set up, rainbow colours. Persons are sick of it. Fortunately BF will power them to alter it.”
I usually take exception to any characterization of recreation builders as “lazy” and that holds right here too, however on the similar time it is laborious to argue that Name of Obligation hasn’t change into rote and routine. Black Ops 7 nearly appears like a parody title—seven of them, actually?—and 2023’s entry (as a result of 2024 was Black Ops 6) was the second sequel of a reboot of a Name of Obligation “sub-series” from 2007. I nonetheless would not name it lazy, however stagnant? I could also be biased—I am not a Name of Obligation fan by any measure—however I might say yeah, completely.
The opposite a part of Ybarra’s large wager is the true query. Can Battlefield 6 lastly rating the win over Name of Obligation it has been chasing just about without end? Early indicators are optimistic: The open beta has already made it the preferred Battlefield of all time on Steam, and extra importantly PC Gamer’s resident Name of Obligation knowledgeable Morgan Park has declared that “Battlefield 6 is making a wonderful case to skip Name of Obligation this yr.”
Which does not assure something, as a result of the true problem Battlefield is dealing with is easy inertia. Name of Obligation is a behavior for an terrible lot of individuals, and the good(?) factor about habits is that we do them with out considering. If Battlefield actually knocks it out of the park this yr, and Name of Obligation continues to coast, that would completely set the desk for an actual energy shift in future years. However a full-on stomping this yr? Looks as if a protracted shot to me.
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