As we've come to understand, when anyone mentions "Battlefield 5," "Call of Duty" isn't too far behind. The two have been competing for the throne of top console FPS for years now, and while Activision's "Call of Duty" always comes out ahead, EA's "Battlefield" always makes it a hard-fought victory.
With both series expected to have their latest entries released this year, another clash of titans is inevitable. However, unlike previous years where "Call of Duty's" victory was a forgone conclusion, this year's "Battlefield" may pose a serious threat down the road - or at least so says industry analyst Michael Pachter.
"Of course it will be [a threat]," Pachter said.
He argues that "Battlefield 5" itself will be great, meaning that it should have little problem generating sales when it presumably releases later this year. He predicts, however, that a portion of this success will be due to the lack of competing IPs that are slated for a late 2016 release.
To illustrate this point he compared the big names from last year to what has been confirmed for this year so far. He identified "Halo," "Fallout 4," "Star Wars Battlefront," "Assassin's Creed" and "Call of Duty" as last year's big games, with the common factor between them being that they each had at least 60 million units of sales. Comparatively, he says there are only four titles which are poised to do the same, and one of them, "Mafia 3," isn't as big as last year's "Assassin's Creed," whose shares it would presumably be after.
Therefore, he reasons that if "Mafia" goes after "Assassin's Creed," "Battlefield" goes after "Battlefront" and "Watch Dogs" goes after "Fallout," then that leaves "Halo's" share of sales up for grabs and it is there where "Battlefield 5" can cause some damage if it plays its cards right.
There isn't much reason to doubt this forecast, but there is one factor that Pachter has seemingly failed to take into account: the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo. More commonly known as E3, the event often drops major gaming bombs, which can serve to shake up the industry - or, in this case, cause further competition for shares. It was at last year's E3 where Bethesda not only revealed that "Fallout 4" was in development, but it was also coming out later that year. By Pachter's own admission, that was also one of the top games of the year, so there isn't much reason to expect anything different for this one.
In a similar vein, the anticipated release of the Nintendo NX (and whatever games come along with it) may serve to shake things up one way or another - granted it actually releases this year.
So when will "Battlefield 5" finally be able to take a stab at 2016's top FPS spot? According to leaked photos, that day will be Dec. 6. Of course, as with all leaks of its nature, it should be taken with a grain of salt.
Interestingly enough, it also lists the official reveal to be coming during the EA Play event, which will precede E3 2016. The coming of this event has been known for quite some time, though it has never been explicitly stated that "Battlefield 5" would be presented there. Though if it's not revealed then, then when?
