Intel Confirms ARC A770, A750 As Scavenger Hunt Prizes

Remember when Intel quietly kicked off a “special” Scavenger Hunt event last year, where 300 lucky winners would be rewarded with one of the chipmaker’s latest ARC Alchemist graphics card, as and when they become available? Well, it’s been close to a year now, and the brand recently confirmed what those 300 cards were: the ARC A770 and A750 Limited Editions.

As a quick recap, the Scavenger Hunt that occurred in October last year happened for just a few weeks and was part of Intel’s effort in hyping up interest for its ARC GPUs, which was just known as Xe HPG back then. The rules were more or less straightforward: participants would have to answer a series of questions, with each correct answer earning them points. Simply put, the more points players had, the greater the likelihood of them becoming the winner.

As mentioned earlier, Intel limited the number of winners of the Scavenger Hunt to just 300 people. Of the 300, 100 would receive the “Premium” ARC Alchemist GPU, which we now know to be the A770 Limited Edition, while the remaining 200 would receive the “Performance” model, which is the A750 Limited Edition.

Intel’s confirmation comes less than a week after the A770 Limited Edition itself was shown off in its full glory at the headquarters of popular TechTuber, Linus Sebastian, via the official Linus Tech Tips channel. Specs-wise, there still isn’t much to say about the GPU officially, but it is likely to be using a full-fat ACM-G10 GPU, along with 32 Xe-Cores and as much as 16GB GDDR6 graphics memory.

As for its performance, the top-tier Intel card was able to run “Tier 1” titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and F1 2021 at 1440p (2560 x 1440) resolution at relatively high framerates, although that was explained to be due to the fact that Intel’s ARC team had targetted the new API standards hard, in order to make it run as smooth as it did.

Unfortunately, there still isn’t much to say about the performance of the Intel A750 Limited Edition, beyond the official video of the card’s performance, which again, has since been made private.

For that matter, there’s still no official pricing for both the ARC A770 Limited Edition or A750 Limited Edition, although Intel’s Tom Petersen did say that it plans on offering “killing” prices that will make its competitors rethink their own pricing strategy.

Android 12 Dessert Name Is Snow Cone, Confirms Engineering VP

Back when Android 12 was still in its developer preview stages, we saw reports of the Google mobile OS being referred to as Snow Cone. We took it as simply being its internal reference name, rather than a public one like the older Android versions. But with its release to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), Android’s VP of Engineering Dave Burke shared the name on Twitter, alongside an appropriate image of the OS mascot.

It’s a nice thing to see for users who were fans of the dessert names. It’s also unusual that the name used for internal reference is kept all the way to its release. After all, before Android 7 was released with the name Nougat, it was known internally as New York Cheesecake.

That being said, the name Snow Cone will still likely not be part of the official Android 12 name. After all, the company stopped doing that with Android 10, which was just referred to as Q.

And with all that being said, it will be awhile before Android 12 actually becomes available on any phone. It’s just gotten its AOSP release, it will still be a few weeks before it even gets to Google Pixel devices. And it will be even later that the mobile OS comes to the devices of other brands.

Samsung Confirms Ray-Tracing Support With Exynos 2200 SoC

Samsung has confirmed that its upcoming Exynos 2200 SoC will indeed ship out with support for ray-tracing. Support for feature, which is currently an optional aesthetic available for desktop GPUs, is possible thanks in no small part to the Korean tech giant’s collaboration with the CPU and GPU maker, AMD.

The confirmation was posted by the brand itself via its official account, Samsung Exynos, on the Chinese social media platform, Weibo. Technically speaking, the post sounds more like the company giving the equivalent of a layman’s breakdown about the functions of ray-tracing, followed by a quick confirmation of the technology’s presence in its upcoming Exynos 2200 SoC.

As it stands, initial reports already point towards the Exynos 2200 using an 8-core layout, running in a 4+3+1 configuration. Specifically, that’s four high-efficiency cores running at 1.73GHz, three mid-tier cores at 2.5GHz, and one high-performance core at 2.59GHz. The GPU, codenamed “Voyager”, are provided by AMD and are based on its RDNA2 GPU architecture. Further, it is rumoured to feature six Compute Unit, which translates into 384 Stream Processors, along with six Ray Accelerators.

Incidentally, the posting also included a poster that allegedly shows the difference between a GPU running without and with ray-tracing cores. For that matter, we strongly suggest to treat the image with a moderate amount of skepticism, for the simple fact that activating ray-tracing does not add additional burning vehicles to the scene.

Alan Wake Remastered FAQ Details System Requirements; Confirms 5 October Release

We’ve previously seen the supposed release date of Alan Wake Remastered of 5 October, as revealed ahead of schedule by a Taiwanese retailer. The developers at Remedy Entertainment has since put out an FAQ page for the game. It not only confirms the release date, but also lists the PC system requirements for the remaster.

Starting with the minimum specs, we’re looking at an Intel Core i5-3340 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200 CPU, and Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 or AMD Radeon RX470 GPU and 8GB of RAM. The only other option listed is recommended, which is a Core i7-3770 or Ryzen 5 1400 CPU, GeForce GTX1060 or Radeon 5600XT GPU, and 16GB of RAM.

All in all, it looks like the Alan Wake Remastered isn’t too demanding when it comes to PC requirements. Though it’s worth noting that the game will only come in x64, and supports only DX12. For Nvidia users, there’s support for DLSS, but not raytracing, which requires an RTX card either way.

Then again, it’s not entirely surprising. After all, this is a remaster and not a remake. Which means that while it will look prettier, it is still mostly the same game. Though interestingly, on the PS5, there’s DualSense support, which makes the torchlight shine brighter if you squeeze the L2 button harder.

MSI Seemingly Confirms Launch Date of Intel Alder Lake CPU Lineup

During its Architecture Day in August, Intel has promised that its 12th generation Alder Lake CPU lineup will launch this year, but fell short of providing a solid date for the event. Well, thanks to MSI, it appears that the date seems to be set for 4 November.

The alleged confirmation date stems from the Taiwanese PC components and laptop maker’s press release, announcing that it would be providing a free upgrade kit for Intel LGA1700 CPUs, along with their Coreliquid CPU coolers. More specifically, consumers will need to fill up a form in order to receive the upgrades but as of this publication, the button that would usually take them to the necessary portal is greyed out and sporting the words “Coming Soon”.

More to the point, the availability date of 4 November initially drew suspicions from Videocardz, whom after reaching out to what it says were reliable sources, was confident that the date is when Intel plans to launch its Alder Lake-S desktop CPU lineup. Further, that date reportedly coincides with the product’s sales and review embargo.

Intel is expected to launch three SKUs under the Alder Lake-S series, including the Core i9-12900K, Core i7-12700K, and Core i5-12600K. As it stands and given how these things usually go, Intel has yet to officially confirm anything, so take this news with a pinch of salt.

Samsung Confirms Galaxy Unpacked Event To Be Held On 11 August 2021

Samsung has updated its social media channels to confirm the date for its upcoming Galaxy Unpacked event. Slated to happen on 11 August 2021 at 10pm local time via the tech giant’s official website, the online-only launch event will undoubtedly see the debut of its latest foldable smartphones – namely, the Galaxy Z Fold3 and Galaxy Z Flip3.

While not officially confirmed by the brand itself, the graphic elements featured on the accompanying promotional image is a big giveaway on what to expect – along with the event’s not-so-subtle “Get ready to unfold” tagline. As you may recall from our report published in June, it was previously rumoured that Samsung will be launching the aforementioned foldable devices during a major Unpacked event that was tipped to be held in August.

Industry insiders also suggested that the tech giant will debut two new Galaxy-branded smartwatches along with the Galaxy Z Fold3 and Galaxy Z Flip. These are believed to be the Galaxy Watch4 and Galaxy Watch Active4, which would feature a refreshed version of Wear OS that is jointly-developed by both Samsung and Google. Not forgetting that some alleged details regarding the specifications for all four upcoming devices were also leaked in earlier this month.

Those who’ve been following Samsung’s various events for the past few years may have noticed something significantly different about this Galaxy Unpacked as well. Most obvious is the absence of the brand’s second highly anticipated flagship smartphone line, the Galaxy Note series, that is often revealed in the third quarter of every year. This could very well mean that rumours of the series’ cancellation may end up being true after all, which would definitely disappoint a good number of fans.

Meanwhile, Samsung Malaysia says that those registering their interest via the event’s page (link provided below) are also entitled to receive a RM300 e-voucher which can be used at the brand’s online store after pre-ordering the new Galaxy devices. However, the company noted that the e-voucher is only applicable on selected Samsung wearables & accessories.

Intel Confirms 600 Series Chipset Support For Alder Lake-S, Raptor Lake-S CPUs

Intel appears to have provided confirmation that its upcoming 600 series motherboards will support both 12th generation Alder Lake-S and 13th generation Raptor Lake-S CPUs, when all three products launch in the future. The chipset board’s compatibility was discovered within documentation submitted to the SATA-IO, the body responsible for getting hardware vendors to adhere to SATA specifications and other accessories.

Breaking down the document further, it lists the model number and name of the product, Alder-Raptor Lake, along with four device IDs, 7AB0, 7ACB, 7A30, and 7A4B. Beyond that, however, there is no further information about the chipset board.

That said, the discovery does provide a bit of good news for the future; rather than create another motherboard chipset for each consecutive CPU generation, Intel has once again chosen to enable backwards compatibility between its 12th and 13th generation Core series lineup. Much like the Z270 chipset that supports both its 6th generation Skylake and 7th generation Kaby Lake processors, albeit with less features available for the former.

As for the CPU lineups themselves, we at least know that Alder Lake-S is set to be the second lineup to use a hybrid processor architecture, the first having been its 10th generation Lakefield CPUs that were recently discontinued, at least for its laptop segment anyway.

We also know that the Alder Lake-S will be the first CPU lineup to move away from the already archaic 14nm die lithography and into 10nm. Further, the new CPU series is expected to support the new DDR5 memory standard, as well as PCIe 5.0 and the possibility of a 14-core CPU as one of its offerings.

HONOR Confirms Return Of Google Mobile Services; HONOR 50 To Be First Device

HONOR, the brand that was once a subsidiary of Huawei, made an indirect announcement recently that Google Mobile Services will indeed be returning to its devices. According to the brand, the first device that is set to reflect the return in a post-Huawei world is the HONOR 50.

Confirmation of GMS’ return to the brand’s upcoming device was done via Twitter, through the brand’s official German account. The tweet is no longer available, but as per Android Authority, it came as a reply to one user’s query. In addition to GMS, HONOR Germany also confirmed that the phone will retain Magic UI, which is technically an off-shoot of Huawei’s own EMUI.

As a quick primer, news about Huawei potentially selling off HONOR first cropped up in November last year. Back then, it was reported that the Chinese telecommunications and smartphone brand would sell its sister brand to a Shenzhen-based consortium for a sum of US$15.2 billion (~RM63 billion). Within a week, the sale was confirmed.

As for the hardware powering the HONOR 50, we know that the phone will be one of the first devices to be fitted with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 778G 5G SoC, while the Pro version of it should house the top-tier Snapdragon 888. Camera-wise, the phone is expected to feature a 50MP main camera reminiscent of Huawei’s alleged main camera design of the P50. It will also reportedly include a 13MP ultrawide and 8MP ultrawide.

In addition, the phone is expected to sport a 6.79-inch AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate.

EA Confirms Development Of A Standalone Battlefield Game For Smartphones And Tablets

Fans of the multiplayer shooter genre on mobile devices will be expecting another high profiled franchise to arrive in the near future, namely the Battlefield series by Electronic Arts (EA). The publisher has recently announced that a standalone version of the game is currently in development and will be hitting the mobile platform sometime in 2022.

The game is being worked on by Industrial Toys in close collaboration with current Battlefield developer DICE, wrote the latter’s general manager Oskar Gabrielson on EA’s official blog. He noted that this version of the game will be specifically designed, and is promised to feature a “fully-fledged, skill-based experience” for players on smartphones and tablets.

Gabrielson also announced in the same blog post that a new major Battlefield game for PC and consoles will be revealed soon and eventually released in 2021. The game is jointly-developed by DICE, DICE LA, Criterion Games and EA Gothenburg, he added.

Ever since their debuts, multiplayer shooters such as Fortnite, PUBG and Call of Duty: Mobile have seen tremendous success and an increased player base on the mobile platform, especially on smartphones. In addition, these games -despite being marketed as free to play titles, have earned their respective developers and publishers millions of dollars in revenue, thanks to the availability of in-game purchases such as booster packs and player customisation items.

According to data gathered by Sensor Tower, PUBG Mobile has reportedly accumulated a total of US$2.7 billion in 2020 alone, with a recorded player spending average of US$7.4 million per day. In terms of player base and downloads, Tencent (via BusinessofApps) claims that the game had garnered a reported 30 million active users in Q3 2020, and recently claimed that it has achieved a whopping 1 billion downloads as of March 2021. With staggering numbers such as these, it’s no surprise that EA would also want a piece of this mobile-flavoured pie, albeit arriving later than other publishers.

In related news, the publisher also confirmed recently that its popular free-to-play battle royale shooter Apex Legends have begun testing on mobile platforms. Regional betas for the game are currently limited to countries such as India and the Philippines, with more regions planned to be added later in the year. Just in case you’re wondering, Apex Legends game director Chad Grenier revealed in a separate EA blog post that the mobile version will not feature cross-platform play.

ASUS Confirms Existence Of ZenFone 8 Mini Variant; Launches On 13 May

Rumours of an ASUS ZenFone 8 Mini first surfaced last month, complete with supposed specs of the device. Now, the company has seemingly confirmed its existence with physical invitations being shared with western tech news outlets.

PhoneArena has shared a few images of the invite, which consists of two cards. One reads “BIG IN SIZE”, and a smaller, transparent one has “on Performance” and Compact” written on it. Putting them together then reads “big on performance, compact in size”. This also implies that it would be called a Compact rather than a Mini, much like the older Sony Xperia devices. Naturally no specs of the device were revealed.

The card also has the launch dates of ASUS ZenFone 8 series, which will likely include the Mini or Compact variant. There’s also a web page for the launch event, with the same “big on performance, compact in size” line. Below that is a countdown to the launch event which, for our timezone, is 1AM on 13 May. And it’s just between two to three weeks away.

It’s always nice to see another manufacturer make a smaller device, in a market of six-inch plus devices. Hopefully the ASUS ZenFone 8 Mini or Compact does not differ too much from the larger device.

Intel Confirms Specs For Xe DG2 GPU; Will Have Up To 16GB GDDR6 And 512EU

Intel recently confirmed the specifications of its Xe DG2 GPUs by furnishing its official, repository website with new details about its discrete graphics for laptops. According to Videocardz, details from the repository is usually restricted to individuals and entities that are under NDA, yet for some reason, the information was easily found online.

That aside, the repository initially lists down a total of five SKUs for the Xe DG2. Firstly, the variants will come with 512 Execution Units (EU), 384EU, and 128EU. Each EU will have eight shading units, so the total number of shaders for the 512EU comes up to 4096 shading units, or ALUs. The odd thing is that the same source also lists down two other EU variants, which are 256EU and 96EU.

Additionally, there is reason to believe that Intel is preparing four memory configurations for the Xe DG2: 4GB, 6GB, 8GB, and 16GB, the latter obviously being the flagship SKU. Moreover, the laptop GPUs are expected to support memory speeds between 14Gbps and 18Gbps, which is also running on the GDDR6 memory format. As promised earlier by Intel.

A lot of this information seems to align with earlier reports of the Xe DG2; back in January this year, leaks suggested that one of Intel’s upcoming Xe-based laptop GPU would come with 8GB GDDR6 graphics memory, as well as 512EU. Moreover, the GPU was supposed to be paired with Intel’s Tiger Lake-H series, which is the chipmaker’s high performance lineup of mobile CPUs.

As for when we can expect to see this GPUs, it is rumoured that we could see them sometime during the second quarter of this year. Intel has yet to make an official announcement, though, so take this bit of news with a grain of salt.

Xbox Head Confirms Some Bethesda Titles Will Be Exclusives

Back in September last year, Microsoft announced that it will acquire Bethesda’s parent company ZeniMax Media. Many thought that, as a result, some of the publisher’s IP will become exclusives to the former’s platforms. At the time, Xbox head Phil Spencer said that this will be examined on a case-by-case basis. Now, the company has confirmed that indeed not all games will be available on the PS5.

This follows the green light being given to the acquisition by the US and the EU. Spencer says that this is “the next step in building an industry-leading first-party studios team”. Though it’s not clear if this only applies to new IPs, or if new entries of ongoing series will also potentially be platform exclusives.

Ultimately, this should not come as a surprise. After all, the entire reason a company will spend US$7.5 billion in acquiring another is to bolster their first-party lineup. It would make little sense to spend that sort of money and not have any exclusives to show for it.

But as long as Xbox game all ultimately end up on PC, then it’s no real loss for us. After all, Xbox has no official presence in Malaysia, and our only real access to their games is via PC.

ESA Confirms E3 2021 Physical Event Cancellation; Digital Event Still On Schedule

The physical event of E3 last year was cancelled, for obvious reasons. And it looks like the one this year will share the same fate, for the same reason as well.

The Department of Convention & Tourism Development of Los Angeles notes that an event called E3 2021 was supposed to happen on 3 March. The update on the event reads “cancelled live event”, as well as “working on 2022 & 2023 license”. This does suggest that the Entertainment Software Association, the organiser of the event, is already making plans for a physical event next year and the year after that. Assuming of course that the COVID-19 pandemic eases off by then.

The ESA has also since sent a statement to TechRadar, confirming the note in the LA City event list. The company says that it is “transforming the E3 experience for 2021 and will soon share exact details”.

Though none of this is exactly surprising. When the ESA announced the cancelling of the physical E3 event last year, the company also mentioned exploring the option for an online experience. Later reports would then add a 15 – 17 June 2021 window for it. So far, everything seems to be going as planned.

Though it remains to be seen if it will be as large as its physical events once was. After all, to plug the gap left by the absence of E3, many companies live streamed their announcements instead. And to great success too, from the looks of it.

OPPO Confirms Find X3 Series Will Launch On 11 March

OPPO has officially announced that it will be launching the new Find X3 flagship series on 11 March – as previously suggested by leakster Jon Prosser last month. While the company only mentioned the Pro variant through its press release, it is rumoured that two other models will also be unveiled during the launch – namely the Find X3 Lite and Neo.

So far, OPPO has confirmed that the Find X3 Pro will feature the Snapdragon 888 chipset and its new Full-Path Color Management System for its display. In regards to the latter, the company says that the system is capable of supporting full DCI-P3 wide gamut and 10-bit colour depth, enabling for “authentic and accurate colour reproduction”.

On the unofficial side of things, earlier leaks suggest that the upcoming flagship phone may feature a 6.7-inch curved display with 1440p resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. Apart from the Snapdragon 888 SoC, it is said that the handset will come with a dual-cell 4,500mAh battery with 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 fast charging support.

Photography-wise, the Find X3 Pro may feature a quad-camera setup housed within a square-shaped “hump” which somewhat blends seamlessly with its rear panel. It is suggested that the setup will comprise of two 50MP Sony-made sensors for its primary and ultra-wide cameras,  a 13MP telephoto with 2x optical zoom capability, and a 3MP macro camera with 25x microscopic zoom.

As for the other Find X3 variants; it is said that the Neo is actually a rebranded OPPO Reno5 Pro Plus, while the Lite is a rebranded Reno5 5G. To recap, the Reno5 Pro Plus comes with a 6.55-inch curved AMOLED display with 90Hz refresh rate, Snapdragon 865 chipset, 12GB RAM, 256GB storage, and a 4,500mAh battery with 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 fast charging support. Meanwhile, the Reno5 5G features a smaller 6.43-inch display with 90Hz refresh rate, Snapdragon 765G SoC, up to 12GB RAM and up to 256GB storage, as well as a 4,300mAh battery with the same fast charging support as the Pro Plus.

Keep in mind that the Find X3 Pro’s alleged design and specifications, as well as details regarding the Neo and Lite models are merely rumours at this time. Whether the leaks are authentic can only be determined once OPPO launches the new flagship series next week on the aforementioned date at 7:30pm local time via its official YouTube channel. 

Sony Confirms Days Gone Coming To PC Via Steam This Spring

Open world survival game Days Gone which was originally released on the PlayStation 4 (PS4) in 2019 will be coming to PC this spring, as revealed by Sony and the game’s developer Bend Studio. It is the second first-party title from the company to be ported over from the PS4 after the release of Horizon: Zero Dawn (HZD) to the PC platform in August of last year.

Sony promises to offer a lot of PC-specific features and improvements for the port, including various visual improvements and customisations, unlocked frame rates and ultra-wide monitor support, as well as an FOV slider – pretty much what was also featured on the PC version of HZD. Hopefully, unlike the latter, Days Gone’s release on Steam will come with better hardware optimisation and little to no bugs at launch.

Speaking of hardware, you can find the system requirements for Days Gone via its official Steam page which has recently gone live. According to it, the minimum specs required to get the game running on PC includes an Intel Core i5-2500K, 8GB of RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780, DirectX 11, and 70GB of storage space. Interestingly, the developers also listed an SSD as a part of the requirements, but as an optional component rather than mandatory.

Besides that, Sony confirmed that all of Days Gone’s post-launch content from the PS4 will also be carried over to PC. These include later additions and DLCs such as New Game Plus, Survival Mode, Challenge Mode, and various skins for the playable character’s bike.

In a recent interview with GQ, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan said fans can expect more first-party games from Sony to be ported to PC in the near future. However, he did not mention any specific titles that are planned after the upcoming release of Days Gone on Steam.

Prior to HZD’s launch on PC, the thought of PS-exclusive titles making its way over to the platform felt like mere fantasy for most fans. Thankfully, this is now possible due to the company’s decision to have its games to be more accessible to those who do not own a PlayStation console. Maybe one day we’ll get to see titles such as the Uncharted series and Ghost of Tsushima to be available on Steam, although it may take a long while for Sony to greenlight such decisions.

Sony Confirms Next-Gen PlayStation VR For PS5; Will Feature A New Controller

Sony has confirmed via its official PlayStation (PS) blog that the next generation PS Virtual Reality (VR) system will be coming to its recently launched console, the PlayStation 5. According to senior vice president of platform planning and management Hideaki Nishino, the new iteration will offer players “dramatic leaps in performance and interactivity”, which would offer them a “greater sense of presence” and immersion.

Nishino did not provide any specific details of the upcoming VR headset, but mentioned that it will connect to the PS5 via a single cord to improve ease-of-use. This suggests that Sony will finally ditch the multi-cable and splitter setup that is featured on the device’s predecessor, which – in all honesty – is a hassle to get up and running.

The company also confirmed that the next-gen PSVR will come with a new VR-specific controller, which would finally replace the 11-year-old PlayStation Move remote. Nishino added that the controller will come with better ergonomics and incorporate some of the key features found in the PS5’s DualSense. If we were to guess, it is possible that it may come with the controller’s excellent adaptive trigger and haptic feedback features. Hopefully, Sony would remove the ugly “sphere light” module from its predecessor as well.

Just like the headset, Sony did not provide any images of the upcoming controller either. Those hoping to see the new PlayStation VR soon will be disappointed, as Nishino confirmed that it will not launch in 2021 and no expected release date was mentioned. “There’s still a lot of development underway for our new VR system,” he added.

Gigabyte Radeon RX 6700XT Certification Appears On EEC; Confirms 12GB GDDR6 Memory

It is being reported that Gigabyte recently submitted a certification application to the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) for multiple variants of AMD’s yet unreleased Radeon RX 6700XT. As with all product submissions to the body, the listing confirms that Gigabyte has plans for not one, but six versions of the card.

Among the card models listed on the product tab is an AORUS 6700XT, both a non-OC and OC Gaming variant, as well as two cards under its Eagle product lineup. The most important point in the listing, though, is confirmation that all these cards will in fact be running with 12GB GDDR6 at launch.

For the uninitiated, rumours about AMD launching a mid-range 6700XT graphics card began cropping up at the beginning of last month. While still officially unconfirmed, the RDNA2-powered GPU is expected to be powered by a Navi 22 GPU, have 12GB GDDR6 running at a speed of 16Gbps, across a 192-bit memory bus.

Performance-wise, speculation seems to hint at the card being on par, either with NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3060 Ti or RTX 3070, though some are leaning towards the latter. As to when the card will see the light of day, it is assumed that AMD may have plans on launching the card sometime in the first half of the year.

EA Confirms Battlefield 6 Launch This Year; Promises Return To “All-Out Warfare”

EA has confirmed that the next instalment of its Battlefield franchise, the tentatively named Battlefield 6 (BF6), is definitely landing this year. Andrew Wilson, CEO of EA, confirmed the game’s launch date during a recent earnings call to investors.

Wilson also said that the upcoming title will also feature maps on an “unprecedented scale”, along with support for more players. We already know from initial rumours that EA plans on making BF6 maps bigger, with the ability to accommodate up to 128 players in a single map; double the current 64 player cap that all current Battlefields are able to support.

As to when exactly BF6 will be launching, Wilson simply told investors that his company plans on launching the game sometime during the holiday season of 2021. It all sounds like he’s full of anticipation, having also said that the next Battlefield game is already ahead of its internal schedule and that there should be no delays.

The only thing we don’t quite know about the BF6 is whether it will see a return to a more modern setting and something entirely different. As to which platform BF6 should be available on, it goes without saying that we can expect it to arrive on the PC and next-gen consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X and Series S.