Electronic Arts’ epic new reveal trailer for Battlefield 2042, (Battlefield 6) the next game in its award-winning Battlefield series. “The reveal trailer for the new Battlefield is a front-row seat to thriving in chaos,” said Randy Evans, Creative Director at EA Marcom Cinematics, who scripted and directed the trailer. “It evokes a roller coaster of emotions in this new Battlefield sandbox that’s still human at its core, and a world worth fighting for. The viewer will yell in fear, laugh out loud, pause in wonder, and scream for joy. It’s a hard-hitting, jaw-dropping ride, and well-paced to keep viewers of all types engaged to the end.”
The unprecedented scale, and epic destruction are enhanced by the inclusion of real-time events that reshape the battlefield and tactical combat play. On-the-fly to dynamic events and storms, such as sandstorms in the deserts of Qatar, a rocket launching from French Guiana’s Space Centre, or tornadoes threatening South Korea’s concrete jungles will all reshape the maps dynamically. For those fans of the Apple TV+ Mythic Quest, they might note that “player-driven persistent environmental changes” is a running gag of this season’s game design from co-creative director Poppy Li, played by Australian actress Charlotte Nicdao. The film production arm of Ubisoft is behind Mythic Quest, – which raises the question was this a very subtle dig at their competitors?
In Battlefield 2042, the world is on the brink. Shortages of food, energy, and clean water have led to dozens of failed nations, creating the greatest refugee crisis in human history. Among these Non-Patriated, or No-Pats, are families, farmers, engineers, and even soldiers. Amidst this crisis, the United States and Russia draw the world into an all-out war. No-Pat Specialists join both sides, not fighting for a flag, but for a future in this new world. Players will jump into the boots of ‘Specialists’, an all-new type of playable soldier for the franchise. Inspired by the traditional four Battlefield classes, (Recon, Support, Assault and Medic). Specialists will be equipped with their own unique Specialist Trait and can use any weapon. Battlefield 2042 will launch with 10 Specialists types. There will be three separate multi-player experiences when the game is released.
Battlefield 2042 will launch on October 22nd on Xbox One PlayStation4 and PC, but also on Xbox Series X and S and PlayStation5. Battlefield 2042 is a first-person shooter that marks the return to the iconic all-out warfare of the franchise. A limited number of Battlefield veteran players will participate in a ‘Technical Playtest’ or Alpha test at the beginning of July 2021. When released, players in the game will need to adapt and overcome obstacles in a near-future world transformed by disorder. The game will support up to 128 players on the newer PS5 type consoles/PCs or 64 on the current level consoles. For those player who don’t want to ‘kill’ other real players, Battlefield 2024 allows multiplayer experience with AI players or a mix of real-life and AI players. The AI players reportedly scale based on a player’s skill, but the complexity of the AI is not yet known. In the months leading up to launch, EA will host an Open Beta available to all players across all platforms.
The new trailer was created in Electronic Arts’s engine Frostbite 4, while the trailer was all rendered in-engine, the company is quick to point out it is a cinematic and not actual gameplay. Frostbite was a game engine developed by DICE, for cross-platform use on Windows PCs, and originally game consoles such as PS3 and the Xbox 360. Frostbite is exclusive to Electronic Arts, which is reportedly the second-largest gaming company in the Americas and Europe by revenue after Activision Blizzard. In the fiscal year 2021, EA, who is headquartered in California, posted net revenue of $5.6 billion. In June 2021, EA confirmed that they had suffered a data breach, with game and engine source code taken from their servers, including the source for the Frostbite Engine, although no player or user data was obtained. Apparently, the hackers who took the code have ostensibly been selling it around on the dark web according to Vice.
The trailer was made by the Marcom Cinematics team, the same multi-disciplinary team who created one of the world’s most viewed ‘reveal trailers’ in 2016 for the WWI-themed Battlefield 1, with over 67.5M YouTube views. Randy Evans, Creative Director, directed and wrote the reveal trailer for Battlefield 2042 played a major role in creating the original Battlefield 1 reveal trailer five years ago.
The Cinematics team is made up of animators, lighters, generalists, editors, technical designers, creative directors, and producers. They come from film/television/commercial VFX and game development, along with avid gamers who learn on the job and bring their own insights about characters and gameplay to the process. The Cinematics team has hubs in Stockholm, Vancouver, and Northern California, and additional offices in the UK and Germany.
In-game cinematics trailers are a genre unto themselves, a mash-up stylistically of movie trailers, commercials, and animated shorts. “It’s a really interesting and fun format to work in,” said Mattias Lindahl, Director of Global Cinematics. “There are very few limitations to what we can do creatively. Our team is built out of fans of the game. We have the luxury of crafting our trailers through experts. In a way, our trailers are created by players for players. The freedom to create in this space is fantastic.”