Battlefield and Call of Duty have been the leaders of the military shooter genre since it burst onto the mainstream in the 2000s, and fans of each franchise have spent hundreds of collective hours debating their respective merits. Despite the two series being remarkably and fundamentally different in a number of ways, they are often considered to be in direct competition with one another, and it would be unrealistic to assume that neither IP responds to the other through game design.
The competition between the two franchises can lead to each of them doubling down on their unique aspects, but it can also seemingly result in one aping the other's style. A clear example of this can be seen in Battlefield 2024, which came under fire a few years ago for releasing weapon and character skins with outlandish, out-of-place theming. At the time, this sort of content was received poorly, to put it lightly, with dedicated Battlefield fans viewing it as a hollow attempt to imitate games like Warzone and Fortnite, which fully embrace goofy and incongruous ideas. While not every Battlefield player was devastated by this loose commitment to tone and identity, it was enough for DICE to back off from the silly stuff, at least for a while, and the series should stay this course.
Battlefield Stealing Call of Duty 2025's Approach May Be a Best-Case Scenario
If the reports about the 2025 Call of Duty game are accurate, the next entry in the Battlefield franchise should take some inspiration from it.
Sticking to the Military Simulation Vibes Could Benefit Battlefield on Multiple Fronts
Players Come to Battlefield for a More Realistic Experience
Naturally, video games about war are rarely going to be realistic—few should expect a one-to-one simulation experience from mainstream, multi-million-dollar enterprises like Battlefield. That said, Battlefield has always been defined by its groundedness and grittiness compared to the likes of Call of Duty, which has become excessively wacky and bizarre over the years. This slow but decisive shift away from realism in Call of Duty is exemplified by a number of infamous multiplayer skins, including:
- Nicki Minaj
- Gaia
- Bath Time
- Snoop Dogg
- Jigsaw
These absurd skins have been more or less accepted by the Call of Duty community, perhaps by virtue of the franchise decoupling from realism long before their introduction: something like the original Zombies mode in Call of Duty: World at War may have helped ease players into the idea of the series being loosely connected to reality. Regardless, Battlefield has become something of a bastion for those seeking a more grounded military shooter that still retains contemporary design staples, and implausible skins like the notorious Santa Claus cosmetic in 2042 undermine this identity, spurring accusations of derivative, trend-chasing antics.
Battlefield Could Win Over Call of Duty Players with a Commitment to Realism
While the Call of Duty community is largely comfortable with silly and over-the-top skins, they definitely aren't universally loved. For one thing, glowing guns, cartoon characters, and celebrities can all detract from the military shooter fantasy that many have come to associate with Call of Duty, even as it shied away from realism over the years. In other words, it's quite immersion-breaking to see Nicki Minaj in a game that purports to be about military operations.
But there's also a certain cynicism emanating from Call of Duty's colorful and pop-culture-influenced cosmetics. It can feel an awful lot like pandering, dangling recognizable iconography before an audience in a hypnotic effort to generate profit. In the context of a live-service metaverse like Warzone, such pop-culture references contain an implicit promise of self-expression: if a player likes Snoop Dogg, they can "be" him in-game, thus expressing themselves. But it's ultimately a hollow and surface-level expression, designed to lure money out of pockets.
This is a sentiment held by many Call of Duty players today, and some of them might be looking for a change. If Battlefield can hold on to its military-sim identity, then it could be the perfect alternative for these players.
Battlefield 2042
-
OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 65 /100 Critics Rec: 32%
- Released
- November 19, 2021
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- DICE, Criterion Games, Ripple Effect
- Publisher(s)
- Electronic Arts
WHERE TO PLAY
Battlefield 2042 is a first-person shooter that marks the return to the iconic all-out warfare of the franchise. With the help of a cutting-edge arsenal, engage in intense, immersive multiplayer battles.
Lead your team to victory in both large all-out warfare and close-quarters combat on maps from the world of 2042 and classic Battlefield titles. Find your playstyle in class-based gameplay and take on several experiences comprising elevated versions of Conquest and Breakthrough. Explore Battlefield Portal, a platform where players can discover, create, and share unexpected battles from Battlefield's past and present.
This game includes optional in-game purchases of virtual currency that can be used to acquire virtual in-game items.
- Engine
- Frostbite
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- PC, PS5 & Xbox Series X|S and PS4 & Xbox One
- Franchise
- Battlefield
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X
- Genre(s)
- First-Person Shooter
- How Long To Beat
- N/A
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 84 GB (June 2023)
- OpenCritic Rating
- Weak
