Has Sony chosen its horse in the epic showdown between Battlefield 6 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7? It certainly looks that way. There's way more promotion of Battlefield 6 than players remember with previous installments of the shooter, although to be fair, there is way more hype surrounding this one.
Battlefield 6 has been the bestselling game on PS5 for three weeks, despite not launching until today. PlayStation Plus players got double XP and a special skin for playing during August's open beta for the much-anticipated first-person shooter. The double XP applied to weapons and player level.
Sony-sponsored Battlefield advertisements are popping up in major cities, confirming Sony and EA have joined forces on this one. This was probably inevitable after Microsoft purchased Activision. Now, there's no indication Microsoft plans to push exclusivity. In contrast, we've seen a huge cooling on the console exclusive front. Gears of War is now playable on PlayStation, and previous Sony exclusive Helldivers 2 is continuing its blockbuster run on Xbox.
But it makes sense that if Sony were to pick a favorite, it would be the shooter not owned by a direct competitor. This is still business, after all. It's also possible that this is the first time Sony has seen an actual chance for Battlefield to move ahead in this race. The contrast couldn't be more stark. Battlefield 6 is going with the more realistic aspects of war, while Black Ops 7 includes robot dogs and wall-running.
Activision's juggernaut has never looked more vulnerable, although COD's years of goodwill may be enough to carry it across the finish line one more time.