The CEO of EA thinks that the Battlefield franchise could challenge Activision’s Call of Duty in a big way in light of the Microsoft acquisition.
The Call of Duty and Battlefield franchises have – for the past decade or so – been like two sides of the same coin. However, the failed launch of the recent Battlefield 2042 meant that developer EA has been recalibrating how they move forward with the series.
In a recent Goldman Sachs event (transcribed by Seeking Alpha, via GameSpot), the company’s CEO Andrew Wilson spoke at length about what they have learned from their recent game and how the CoD becoming an exclusive title could impact Battlefield for the better.
While he did begin by admitting that the Battlefield team hasn’t exactly “delivered in the last two iterations of that in the way we should have,” Wilson went on to highlight the exciting future of the series. In particular, how their clear vision and direction going forward could see them get the edge on the less than certain future of Call of Duty.
“In a world where there may be questions over the future of Call of Duty and what platforms that might be on or might not be on, being platform agnostic and completely cross-platform with Battlefield, I think is a tremendous opportunity,” he said.
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CoD becoming an Xbox exclusive could be a big win for Battlefield
One of the biggest concerns following Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision/Blizzard is that the Call of Duty series will become an Xbox exclusive moving forward. And while Xbox boss Phil Spencer has said publicly that the franchise will stay on PlayStation for “several more years”, the future of CoD is still very much so undecided.
This uncertainty is something Battlefield seems to be ready to take advantage of. Earlier this month, EA expressed its commitment to the series and to improving the Battlefield 2042 experience for players. Wilson also added during his speech at the Goldman Sachs event that the crux of the Battlefield experience is still as strong as ever.
“There’s a lot of work that we’ve got to do there. But at its very core, this is an extraordinary IP. And what we’ve seen in the world of entertainment is, that great IP is resilient…I think we have an extraordinary creative team involved in Battlefield now who have unbelievable ambitions to own the first-person shooter space.”