EA goes after Activision’s long-running shooter collection with a business briefly starring celebrities
A brand new live-action trailer for Electronic Arts’ upcoming Battlefield 6 includes a group of celebrities, together with Zac Efron, getting swiftly blown up by a missile in what appears to be a dig at Name of Obligation‘s many commercials featuring actors, musicians, and other famous people. It’s the newest instance of the 2 army shooter franchises reacting to 1 one other in a method we’ve not seen in years.
On September 28, EA launched the “Battlefield 6: Official Launch Live-Action Trailer.” And like many live-action Name of Obligation adverts from the final decade, the BF6 business begins off with a bunch of celebs cosplaying as troopers and on the brink of battle. However simply 24 seconds into the brand new trailer, a missile flies into body and blows up all 4 stars in a big, fiery explosion. A bunch of troopers then walks by means of the world, with one asking, “Who was that?” and the opposite bluntly replying that it “doesn’t matter” earlier than telling everybody to maneuver out.
Whereas the brand new advert doesn’t straight point out Name of Obligation, it’s apparent what EA is doing right here. For a lot of, a few years, Name of Obligation video games have used celebrities like Will Arnett, Jonah Hill, Michael B. Jordan, Cara Delevingne, and plenty of others in numerous live-action trailers. As recently as 2021, Call of Duty featured numerous celebs in a Warzone ad that was closely criticized by followers for going too far and feeling too foolish. This new BF6 trailer seems like a direct nod to these celeb-heavy launch ads and a dedication from EA that it received’t comply with in CoD’s footsteps, a transfer that followers within the feedback of the trailer appear to enormously respect.
Over time, longtime CoD players have lamented the franchise’s shift away from grounded fight and realism as weird crossover skins and over-the-top future tech have turn out to be extra prevalent in latest entries. This has all come to a head in 2025 as Battlefield 6, which had a massively standard open beta earlier this yr, has gone the wrong way and doubled down on being a gritty, grounded, and reasonable army shooter. Activision has responded by making changes to skins, rolling again plans to let all Black Ops 6 skins transfer ahead into Black Ops 7, and even letting devs talk publicly about the series turning down some collaboration cosmetic deals.
It’s very, impossible that Battlefield 6 will outsell Name of Obligation: Black Ops 7 this yr. Nevertheless it looks like EA’s FPS may take an even bigger chew out of the rival shooter collection than it has in earlier years, and Activision is certainly paying consideration. The news that EA is being bought up by Saudi Arabia’s PIF in addition to different buyers, together with Jared Kushner’s funding agency, has definitely added an awkwardness to BF6‘s rollout, although.
Battlefield 6 will launch on October 10 for PS5, Xbox Collection X/S, and PC. EA received’t discuss a Change 2 port. Black Ops 7 launches on consoles and PC in November. It also isn’t going to be available on Switch 2.
