The new Battlefield 6 ‘leaks’ aren’t new at all

Folks, believe me: I’m as hungry for new details about the next Battlefield game as you are. But these new “leaks” that you might have seen floating around aren’t new at all.

Recently, respected leaker Tom Henderson, known as TheLongSensation on YouTube, published a new video that purported to have information about the next Battlefield game, which is popularly referred to as Battlefield 6. The video purports to reveal—or reiterate, as it were—several details about the next game in the series, specifically that Battlefield 6 will launch on both current- and previous-gen consoles, might include a battle royale mode, and will have maps designed with 128-player servers in mind.

These “leaks” picked up steam when Battlefield YouTubers like LevelCap, FlakFire and Lossy made their own videos about Henderson’s report. These YouTubers are trusted sources with squeaky-clean reputations for their coverage of the series, and expressed a healthy dose of skepticism towards Henderson’s report, but they did cover them.

But here’s the thing: These leaks aren’t really new at all.

Henderson reported all the way back in August 2020 that DICE was designing the next Battlefield’s maps for 128 players and that EA has shown interest in competing with Call of Duty: Warzone by publishing its own battle royale game with the next Battlefield’s engine.

Likewise, Henderson also already claimed that Battlefield 6 (or whatever it will be called) will have a “feature-limited version” for previous-gen consoles, though the main focus is on the current-gen and PC versions. If true, it would have precedence in Battlefield 4, which had a version for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 that halved the player count. Additionally, a headline you might have seen stating that the game will be “cross-gen” is slightly misleading, as the report shows no indication that current- and previous-gen players would be playing together.

It’s not that these leaks aren’t possible, or even probable. As far as educated guesses go, all of them make total sense, especially given what EA has already said about the game. It’s just that these are old rumors, so don’t expect a flurry of new details about the game quite yet.

But what do we know about the next Battlefield? Currently, we know that it’s scheduled to launch holiday 2021, which could mean October or November. Whether or not it will hit its deadlines and make that release date is still unknown, considering we’re still in the midst of a global pandemic and release dates are still somewhat flexible.

EA CEO Andrew Wilson also stated that the publisher is planning to “share a lot more about the game in the spring.” Considering EA has investor calls scheduled for February and May, we’re expecting a reveal in late April or early May so that the execs there have something to brag to investors about. Again, this is an educated guess, not a leak or a rumor.

Furthermore, Wilson stated that the “technical advancements of the new consoles [are] allowing the team to deliver on a true next-gen vision for the franchise.” Specifically, the tech demo that EA showed during EA Play Live 2020 featured enhanced destructibility and large player counts, though the specific numbers weren’t discussed. This could mean that the previous-gen version of the game is not actually happening, but it definitely leads credence to the purported 100-plus player count.

Finally, we know that the next Battlefield is in a playable state already, as DICE has been testing it internally, according to Wilson. Not only that, but “the team’s been getting positive very positive feedback on the game as we’ve begun to engage our community.” This would make you think that EA GameChangers have already received information about Battlefield 6, though well-known members of that community like JackFrags and Westie have stated that they have no concrete knowledge about the game.