With the reveal trailer for Battlefield 6 due to release this week, how important is it that this first-look video going to be for the game’s future?
Certain video games and video game franchises have built up a reputation for incredible reveal trailers; League of Legends, World of Warcraft, Call of Duty and of course, Battlefield.
For the latter franchise, Battlefield, trailers and gameplay videos have been the source of extreme community hype, engagement and excitement for their titles.
With the first trailer for their next game, as referred to here as Battlefield 6, due to premiere this week, we breakdown how important the reveal is for the upcoming FPS.
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Battlefield 6: Reveal trailer release date…
The reveal trailer for Battlefield 1 premiered on May 6th, 2016 and on May 23rd for Battlefield 5.
However, the new game will be revealed slightly later than usual, being confirmed to be June 9th.
So, with the reveal trailer set to dominate social media next week, how important is it that this trailer is positively received by the community?
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How important is the BF6 reveal trailer?
- The simple answer is that the Battlefield 6 reveal is incredibly important for EA DICE, with the first-look trailer set up to have a significant impact on both community hype and pre-order sales.
On the one hand, a solid reveal trailer can increase the hype from core fans, generate interest from the lame community and potentially influence the pre-order sales; whilst a poor trailer can have the opposite effect.
Thinking back to the reveals for recent Battlefield games, the examples that come to mind are the BF4 and BF1 trailers.
The Battlefield 1 reveal trailer, for example, was nothing short of exceptional and the community feedback demonstrated the global excitement for the game; nearly 70 million views, 2.3 million likes and a 98% like-dislike rate on YouTube.
The top comment on the video (at the time of writing) pretty much sums up the feelings of any BF fan re-watching this particular trailer: “It’s been over 3 years and it still gives me goosebumps.”
Not only did this trailer create excitement within the hardcore BF community, but it produced similar anticipation from fans who were new to the franchise. This level of worldwide hype and expectation would have surely impacted the solid pre-order statistics, which were approximated at being around 14 million units.
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Battlefield 1 Official Reveal Trailer
At the same time, a reveal trailer that is poorly received by the community can have the adverse effect; suppressing excitement, encouraging criticism and lowering pre-order sales.
This can be most clearly seen in the reaction to the Battlefield 5 reveal trailer; 15 million views and with more than 570,000 dislikes, just a 37% approval rate.
Whilst we could probably discuss the shortcomings of the BF 5 trailer for hours, it can be aptly summarised again by one of the top comments; “With a never-before-seen portrayal of World War 2, and hopefully is a portrayal never to be seen again.”
This controversy that this trailer caused within the gaming community likely impacted the pre-order sales of the game; dropping from 14 million to 7.3 million and described as “weak” by the former DICE CEO.
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Battlefield 5 Official Reveal Trailer
Specifically for Battlefield 6, the reveal trailer will showcase two things, the setting and scale.
We still don’t officially know what era the next Battlefield game will be based in i.e., a historic, modern or futuristic conflict – although a future setting is most likely.
However, the setting for BF6 could have a significant influence on the community reaction; arguably a game based on modern conflicts would secure a more favourable response than a third historical title in a row.
The scale is also something to look out for in the Battlefield 6 trailer, as this will show us how advanced this new title will be compared to the previous games and the global competition from Call of Duty.
It has been reported that the next BF game will have “never-before-seen scale” that delivers “a truly next-gen vision for the franchise.” Buzz words and phrases like these may be pretty common within video game advertisement campaigns, but they provide us with an impression that BF6 will be the largest, most complex title in the franchise.
One final point to make here is that the importance of the Battlefield 6 reveal trailer may be emphasised by the lack of hype surrounding upcoming FPS titles.
Yes, Call of Duty: Warzone, Apex Legends, Rainbow Six Siege and other games may be dominating the global game-space. However, it does feel that there is an opportunity for the BF6 reveal trailer to truly arouse interest from the wider FPS community – is there another game you are looking forward to this year than BF6?
Whilst the reveal trailer is by no means a make-or-break scenario for Battlefield 6, EA DICE will understand the importance of the video’s premiere. The reaction for their two most recent BF titles are at stellar opposites to one another, let’s just hope that the marketing team have learned their lessons from the Battlefield 5 reveal.
This article will be updated as soon as more information on the BF6 reveal trailer is confirmed.
By Tom Llewellyn – [email protected]
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