EA Wants Battlefield To Become an Annual Release

A new rumor has suggested that EA wants to turn Battlefield into an annual franchise in the vein of Call of Duty. However, this plan to see a new Battlefield game every year seemingly won’t come into effect for some time yet.

Historically, the Battlefield franchise has always been less frequent than many of the other big players in the FPS genre, becoming even less frequent in recent years. Looking at every Battlefield game, there was a stint in the late 2000s and early 2010s when the series had tons of activity, but of late, the franchise has opted to take its time with new releases. There was a three-year gap between 2016’s Battlefield 5 and 2021’s Battlefield 2042, and the four-year gap between the latter and the upcoming Battlefield 6 is the longest break between mainline releases in the series since its 2002 inception.

EA Seemingly Wants To Make Battlefield Annually, But it Could Take “Five or Six Years”

However, it doesn’t seem as though fans will see such a four-year gap again. As reported by Insider Gaming, a new video by industry analyst Michael Pachter has claimed that EA wants Battlefield to become an annual, just like Call of Duty. Pachter claims to have spoken to Battlefield General Manager Byron Beede, saying, “their goal is three studios making Battlefield on a three-year basis. So they can get to Battlefield annually. He said it’s going to take five or six years before they get two in a row, so we’re not going to get there for a while.”

An annual Battlefield sounds like it could work on paper, especially with multiple studios at the helm. However, it may not be a guaranteed success in the long run. Over the years, gaming has seen plenty of franchises take an annual approach, and the issue of franchise fatigue often rears its head. That’s not to say Battlefield can’t work annually; it absolutely. However, there’s an inherent risk with inundating players with a similar thing, year upon year.

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For now, many players are just happy to see Battlefield back in the mainstream with what seems set to be a triumphant return. The recent Battlefield 6 open beta has given players a much better idea of what to expect from the final product, and barring some community complaints about the map sizes, it seems that the response has been quite postitive, especially when compared to the reception of Battlefield 2042 four years ago.