Another Battlefield 6 Leak. It’s Been Quite Some Time Since We’ve Seen A Game That’s Quite So Leaky, But It’s Also A Stark Reminder.
Another Day, Another Battlefield 6 Leak. It’s Been Quite Some Time Since We’ve Seen A Game That’s Quite So Leaky, But It’s Also A Stark Reminder Of Some Of The Best And Worst Things About Gaming Leaks.
If you’re unaware, the next Battlefield game (we’ll call it Battlefield 6, even if EA is inevitably going to think of a more confusing name for it) is releasing sometime this year and officially we know next-to-nothing about it. All we’ve got so far is confirmation that we’ll be seeing it this year and that it’ll have destruction and multiplayer, which it doesn’t take a series veteran to figure out.
On the other hand, unofficially, we know pretty much everything there is to know about the game. We’ve had leaks about the game’s destructive weather, robot dogs, its first reveal trailer, and even whether or not the game has a six in the title (spoilers- it doesn’t, but that won’t stop us calling it Battlefield 6). In some ways, the whole leaking process has been a ton of fun for the Battlefield community. The highlight of it all so far is definitely Tom Henderson sketching scenes from the trailer, and then being backed up by two blurry screenshots that sent the community in a flurry, but there have been tons of little moments like that where everyone really seems to be having fun with the leak.
Everything from the sketches of the leaks, to speculation about when the trailer is actually going to be released, shows the best of gaming leaks. It’s the sort of stuff that’s pretty harmless and serves to hype up a community. For a good while, it seemed to be working too, with the excitement surrounding the game at a fever pitch and the community healthily anticipating the full reveal of something they already knew pretty much everything about.
I think a lot of this can be attributed to the fact that Battlefield is hardly going to shake the boat with any new game it releases. Sure, the weather effects sound great and will surely shake up the formula, but you still know what you’re getting whenever it ends up releasing. That makes a lot of the leaks a lot less harmful than, say, revealing that there’s a second playable character in The Last of Us Part II.
As much fun as it’s been watching the Battlefield community rally together over spaghetti memes, it’s now reached a point of exhaustion and going too far. Tom Henderson has confirmed that at least 80% of the trailer has now leaked online in some form or another, with all of the screenshots, soundbites, and gifs showing pretty much the whole thing. Even Tom Henderson seems a bit sick of it all, and he literally drew sketches of the trailer to excite the community.
This is exactly what most people hate about gaming leaks. Everyone loves to know a little about what’s coming up, but revealing the whole thing in such a shoddy manner just ruins the fun for everyone. Sure, eventually the trailer will be released and we’ll see everything in detail without needing to speculate, but unless there’s some added detail or secrets in there, the community is pretty much waiting for nothing.
It seems like the reason why the trailer has been leaked so heavily now is that fans are simply getting sick of waiting. Knowing everything about a game has its consequences, and it certainly makes the eventual reveal a lot less interesting. It doesn’t help that EA has seemingly delayed the reveal several times over when the trailer appears to be finished. The fans are just tired of waiting, and now the leaks seem to be more out of spite than any community bonding.
The situation reminds me of the massive leaks that happened to Capcom earlier in the year. Sure, it’s fun to find out a few of the things that the company has planned in the next couple of years, but revealing everything even down to the ending for Resident Evil Village is taking things too far. Sadly, this isn’t a situation that’s ever going to change. Every big game has its leaks, and there will never be a way to stop them. At the very least, you can hope to have what Battlefield had for a while, and hope for leaks that bring everyone together, rather than driving them all apart.
This news was originally published at The Gamer.