With Call of Duty's obsession with cringe-inducing pop culture skins, 'Battlefield 6' has a very real opportunity to offer the alternative — will EA deliver?

After months of leaks and speculation, EA finally revealed the Battlefield 6 trailer yesterday.

As is typical of Battlefield 6 reveal trailers, it was epic, bombastic, and started generating tons of hype. But things are a little different this time around.

Since the last title, Battlefield 2042, Microsoft acquired its closest analogue, Call of Duty, in a massive $71 billion deal. Fortnite continued to absorb an entire generation of gamers, putting pressure on other shooters to co-opt some of the sales strategies therein.

Call of Duty has had licensed skins for years at this point, but the relentless march of WWE skins, celebrity cameos, and even weird anachronistic tie-ins like TMNT and Beavis and Butthead feels like it was ripped straight out of some insane Fortnite-inspired fever dream. A Fortnitemare if you will (sorry). It's a mockery of what Call of Duty was built on, and increasing numbers of people seem tired of it.

Indeed, gamers are more selective and more sceptical than ever. There are more free-to-play options on the market than ever. And there are alternative modes of entertainment that don't come with a $70-80 upfront cost.

Battlefield 6 Official Reveal Trailer - YouTube

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Battlefield and EA in general also has more scrutiny against it than ever. Old studio leads that made Battlefield what it was left the company, with Call of Duty, Titanfall, and Apex Legends lead Vince Zampella taking over. Zampella remains a singular point of credibility in an EA that seems intent on destroying almost every franchise it owns, from EA FC, to Mass Effect, to Dragon Age, to Battlefront — and even Battlefield itself.

Battlefield 2042 wasn't exactly received in a particularly positive light — to say the least. The game had a variety of controversial gameplay changes that seemed designed to chase a wider, imaginary audience, or the product of a late-development pivot from chasing Battle Royale trends. Battlefield 2042 was also marred by bugs and technical issues, more so than usual. EA's attempts to rework aspects of the game led to huge delays in its live service program, sparking petitions for refunds that garnered hundreds of thousands of signatures.

It's against this backdrop that people aren't willing to give EA the benefit of the doubt anymore. Which is unfortunate for them, because Battlefield 6 has a stronger opportunity to capture market share than it has in years.

Call of Duty has made a mockery of everything it was built on, but the kids love it, apparently — and that's fine, but I'm out

As of 2025, Call of Duty has become a $35 billion franchise across its lifetime, and indeed, a lot of that is post-launch monetization.

The skins economy is a huge and lucrative aspect of modern gaming, after players actively shunned pay-for-power or "pay-to-win" mechanics. Publishers opted for cosmetic upgrades instead, and quite clearly, those licensed, recognizable characters and celebrities are the ones that make the most cash.

Yet, it also seems like a huge amount of people hate them too. Over the last two weeks, I had two viral tweets, one at over 1 million impressions and one at over 3 million impressions, decrying Call of Duty's skinfest era.

And yeah, I'm well aware of how this ages me potentially, and also those who agree. We're old.

The kids love this stuff, evidently, or Microsoft and Activision and others wouldn't push so hard on it. Activision doesn't share granular data on how well its skin economy does for Call of Duty, but you can infer from Call of Duty Mobile, which is free, how well in-app purchasing does for these kinds of games. One report suggests Call of Duty Mobile has generated over $25 billion in revenue by itself since 2019.

It's pretty simple, if people didn't buy the skins etc. then the publishers wouldn't do it.

For me, the skins just make the game feel like a Fortnite clone and suck you out of the action and immersion. There's only so many times I can be executed by Rhea Ripley from the WWE with a steel chair before I start rolling my eyes and play something else. Call of Duty used to at least attempt to recreate vaguely realistic war scenarios, albeit through an arcade-y lens. Now it doesn't even try.

They want the Fortnite money, even at the cost of an utterly degraded user experience — at least for people who cringe at the thought of going into battle with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. The skins weren't about making Call of Duty more fun, they're purely about greed, knowing that people will pay for a novelty in the short term even if it harms the game's image and community in the long term. Thus is the effect of quarterly capitalism.

And sure, Social media has a habit of creating bubbles. Twitter noise and YouTube likes/dislikes aren't an exact science — but I feel like there's more discourse around how much Battlefield can offer a true alternative to Call of Duty than ever before. I feel like more and more Call of Duty fans are getting fed up of the skins, the bare-faced greed, and are hopeful that Battlefield might finally offer an alternative.

It always kind of skirted that niche, gunning for gritty realism and large-scale tactical play over minute-to-minute short bursts of dopamine. The payoffs in Battlefield often took longer to arrive, but when they did, they were far larger, and far more epic.

EA's "Battlefield moments" marketing line is quite honestly product truth — winning a gun battle atop a burning zeppelin only to parachute off and land in a passing attack plane is something you'll only experience in Battlefield. Some of my most epic gaming memories revolve around the Battlefield series, while a lot of my Call of Duty memories are fleeting.

But it's also true that Battlefield games are notoriously buggy at launch, and EA has been increasingly inconsistent on quality, and also increasingly ambivalent towards fans of its franchises.

Battlefield 6 can offer a true alternative, but does EA have the stamina?

Battlefield V and Battlefield 2042 represented some of my biggest disappointments in gaming. Although Battlefield V pulled it back eventually, I never felt like Battlefield 2042 managed to recreate what I loved about Battlefield Bad Company 2, Battlefield 1, as well as Battlefield 3 and 4. I even enjoyed the hugely controversial Battlefield Hardline more than 2042. Battlefield 1, I think, is my favorite multiplayer shooter of all time, with BFBC2 close behind.

Battlefield 2042's underlying game design seemed penned for the Battle Royale trend rather than what Battlefield was known for, which underpins EA's utter incompetence when it comes to handling its franchises and studios.

EA is the franchise killer. Dead Space. Dragon Age. (Probably) Mass Effect, and even Bioware itself. Titanfall. Battlefront. Plants vs. Zombies. And many, many, many more. EA's restless greed and short-term thinking undermines its long-term success, time and time again — which is why with them, you can't really expect anything positive until the product is right there in your hands. You'd have to be kidding yourself if you think Battlefield 6 won't have some pop-culture skins as well, given that it's 2025. But I highly doubt we'll be seeing Ninja Turtles roam the warzone (I hope ...)

For sure, Fortnite's sloppy skin cross-over pop-culture hellscape has infected almost every other shooter out there, as the industry wrestles with how to appeal to "the youth" while also retaining their franchise's identity and long-time fans. Even games like Overwatch and non-shooters like Diablo 4 have had cross-over skins, although they have at least tried to keep them somewhat grounded within their respective universes. Call of Duty well and truly hasn't.

They could've had weapon skins inspired by licensed properties, or weapon charms or something — something that would've made at least some sense in-universe. They could've added a filter for hiding all that stuff, for people who find the technicolor memery to be too cringey to tolerate. You know, like an arachnophobia filter — but for bullshit instead of spiders. Alas, in 2025, there's no stopping it. Call of Duty is dead to me, and many millions of others I'd wager.

But, there's no publisher out there more renowned for disappointment than EA. None whatsoever. But you can only disappoint people as much as you've delighted them in the past. EA has given me some of my fondest gaming memories, as well as my deepest disappointments — I'm sure it's true for many of you as well.

Battlefield 6 has a stronger opportunity than ever to offer an epic and grounded military shooter experience alternative, but will EA deliver? I'm trying to be optimistic, but EA has taught me not to be over the years.

Battlefield 6 will debut in full on July 31, 2025. Please god, be good.