Everything We Learned From the New 'Battlefield 2042' Trailer
Following weeks of rumors and media leaks online, Battlefield developer EA Dice has finally released an official trailer for the next installment of their popular online shooter franchise.
Many had already speculated that a reveal of some kind was on the way, given EA's controversial decision to forgo this year's E3 conference. After it was verified that the publisher would instead be hosting its own ''EA Play Live'' event on 22 July, it quickly became apparent that any prospective Battlefield announcement would not be confined to the E3 schedule and would likely occur sometime during the expo.
Then, last Tuesday, the franchise's official Twitter account confirmed that a reveal was imminent and posted a YouTube link that began counting down to a livestream on 9 June at 11 a.m ET. Sure enough, when the wait was over, gamers were treated to their first official look at Battlefield's sixth mainline entry, which we now know is titled Battlefield 2042.
What The Trailer Revealed
Aside from showcasing the spectacular graphical upgrade that we expect from a game built specifically for next-gen consoles, the trailer's most significant reveal is that Battlefield 6 will be set in the near future. Rather than a far-flung vision of a distant sci-fi era, like Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, this seems to have taken a comparatively grounded approach. There are no spaceships or laser guns in sight, although we do get a glimpse at state-of-the-art hovercrafts, high-tech fighter jets and what appears to be an armored drone resembling a dog.
The 5-minute trailer also promises massive-scale warfare with dozens of fighters engaging in combat all at once. This would seem to corroborate leaks that Battlefield 2042 will be supporting an increased player count in multiplayer, potentially doubling the team capacity to 64-a-side per match.
If that is the case, then it would suggest that Dice is looking to directly compete with popular online battle royales like Fortnite or Call of Duty: Warzone, the latter of which facilitate lobbies of up to 150 players.
Speaking of Fortnite, the trailer opens with an infantry squadron garbed in wingsuits airdropping into the battle zone, before deploying their parachutes. In recent years, this has become a staple of the battle royale genre, perhaps indicating that Battlefield will finally be including some version of that game mode.
Another leak that turned out to be accurate was that Battlefield 2042 will place a heavy emphasis on dynamic weather effects, which promise to shake up multiplayer matches in exciting new ways. In the video itself, we see this manifest in a vision-obscuring sandstorm, as well as a raging tornado that devastates a metropolitan city and sucks up a number of combatants.
The Battlefield engine has always been renowned for its impressive destruction physics and, if this trailer is anything to go by, the inclusion of extreme weather will take this to a whole new level.
The last important detail comes right at the end of the trailer, with the announcement that an in-depth gameplay preview is only a few days away, scheduled for June 13.
