Greetings, salutations, warm sands to you all!
Hellooooooooo, to all of you! Ya having a good week so far? Looking after yourselves? Hydrating? Better be, cause who else will read my nonsensical jibber-jabber if you aren’t able to comprehend the magnitude of my lines!?
Now, I know I said that I’d stick with World of Warcraft for a while, and I know that my last piece on it was a little shorter and more rushed than the others, but that’s because I’m trying to talk about as much as possible while also not droning on, but is that really me if I don’t drone on about certain topics or yap on and on about the things I particularly like and think you’d enjoy too? Or… Express certain thoughts about very particular companies? cough cough Bethesda and Bioware cough cough.
Some news has come out, and it IS my job to jump on the gaming news and the ins and outs of what is happening, rather than just having a fat chat about certain games, though you know you love it when I do!
This week I’ll be jumping on the whole bandwagon of what’s been happening to Battlefield 6, but before I do, let’s do a little recap on what Battlefield 6 has achieved so far, and why, because who better to explain it all than your favourite combat medic who will run their ass off to get to you and get you back in the fight despite having a helicopter barreling down on me along with a tank deciding that I’m a better target than OUR tank firing at it.
It’s “nice” to see that THAT aspect of the game hasn’t changed, nor has the solid take that Engineer is the BEST class in the game. (sad Medic noises) It’s been a couple of months, plus a few updates and fixes here and there, but it’s just like it was stated before: Battlefield 6 is the Battlefield game in the series!
Now, I will 100% align with the fact that that statement is highly debatable, as I can admit that Battlefield 6 has let itself down by not matching the content release of Battlefield 3 or 4, and the game arguably can’t exactly match the scale of Battlefield 4 and I will agree with the consensus that Battlefield 3 just had a better story to it, and some folks all over the place from Reddit to YouTube, to comments on all social platforms where people think that Battlefield 6 just doesn’t match up to the immersion that Battlefield 1 brought.
However, I will put up a teeny tiny fight on those takes since I actually enjoy the maps and evolution of said maps during the progression of the firefights, and I will say that it is too early to say that the game doesn’t have much content, since it’s still WAAAAAY too early to make that kind of take.
I’ve said it about Cyberpunk 2077 and many other games, whether they had a good launch or a bad launch… Give. It. Time.
The game is still in its baby steps, and yet it’s managed to beat out Call of Duty, though that is to be expected since Call of Duty has slowly been going down the drain since Black Ops 1, and I’ve always preferred the Modern Warfare games over Black Ops.
But to say that a game in it’s early stages is lacking content when it bases itself around a live-service centre is to be expected, along with the fact that they’ve been focusing on the BR of Redsec and ironing out the plethora of bugs that the game has, but just like a Bethesda game, would it really be a Battlefield game without problems with the Net code or the map breaking or certain guns feeling just as broken as Recluse did on Destiny 2 when it first came out?
To me, the game actually exceeds the level of immersion that Battlefield 1 achieved; it feels alive and gets me pumped up!
The visuals and audio are next level that create a battle field, hah, that feels alive and ever changing and impacted by all the destruction, the gun-play and modification is definitely a great experience that improved on the system that was implemented in 2042, while also letting the classes flourish, with clear favouritism to engineers like always, and the maps are great, but they could do with some extremely large-scale ones, but that would require a full-lobby to actually be any fun be utilised.
Because already people hated the idea of bot-lobbies that infested Battlefield games in the past, but I for one did like practicing on maps with bots to get a feel for them before I ended up diving on in to the real thing only to have my head blown off by someone who managed to bug their way onto a building they shouldn’t be able to stay on and now they’re just headshotting folks left, right, and centre because they’re either aim-botting or they’re actually skilled at their shots but are still a scum-bag for using a cheesy spot… Ahem…
Anyway, I love everything the game has turned out to be, but that doesn’t mean that that’s all the game will offer in the future, nor will it mean that content will be drying up, nor will it mean that EA would let the game just flop… Or so one would think…
Enough hopping around that particular minefield, I’ll tell ya who definitely isn’t having a good time. You guys are all caught up on the game and all that great stuff now, right? Great, grand, awesome-possum. So…Remember how well Battlefield 6 was doing? Is doing? Despite the attrition the game has been slowly experiencing, like any other game?
Yeaaaaaah, EA decided that, despite the success of the game and all the hard work, they’d be laying off a bunch of devs across all Battlefield studios!
That includes Criterion, DICE, Ripple effect, and Motive.
Despite Battlefield 6’s record-breaking launch and grand hit, EA has still decided to shed some of its workforce, but has stated that this is only a result of a realignment of the company. However, to anyone with any kind of common sense or head on their shoulders, it seems quite obvious that these layoffs happened as a result of the acquisition by Saudi Arabia and the extent of the shareholders’ hold over EA, given the debt they owe as a result of the acquisition.
Despite the game’s success, if they can’t generate enough revenue, then they’ll quite obviously cut back on their employees in order to Scrooge over every little cent that they can save. I mean, really? You’re cutting back on the employees of one of your most successful games that has shattered records because of a company restructuring?
Battlefield 6 is EA’s golden egg since BF 1942 and Bad Company, and they’re deciding to just drop it because reasons? Yeah, that’s definitely what’s happening.
I’d sooner believe that they layed off who they could replace with A.I, like a large portion of companies are doing in this new day and age of generative A.I. Surely you keep the teams in your company that have all attributed to something that has garnered you a MASSIVE profit, a boon to your reputation that allowed for a start of repairing said reputation, and to look after the teams that have been doing what the community wanted, actually listening to feedback?
Apparently, that ain’t happening, and because the game isn’t generating a billion dollars a day. It’s quite clear that EA is 100% following the plan to use A.I to cut operating costs and maximise profit by not having actual people working in their company, that’s what their investors wanted, wasn’t it?
Let’s just go ahead and replace the people who love and pride themselves on gaming and game creation with generative AI. models, because it’s cheaper and easier than having someone with a genuine love for their work, let’s just replace the people who brought out EA’s most successful game to date in a LONG time.
Aaaaanyway, that’s enough about that, let’s hope that EA doesn’t fall off the ball again, but, then again, this is EA we’re talking about…
Thanks for tuning in to another one of my weekly rants. I promise my next one won’t be so much of a debby-downer, but it will be all over the shop like usual.
Stay safe out there, look after yourselves, and have an absolute blast in your games. Whether that’s exploring the new heroes in Deadlock, feasting your eyes on the wonder of Midnight, or doing whatever it is you heroes and not-so heroes do.
