"Battlefield 5" will give "Call of Duty 2016" a run for its money, according to distinguished video game and social media analyst Michael Pachter.
In an interview with Gaming Bolt, Pachter said that "Battlefield 5" will be a "threat" for sure to the upcoming "Call of Duty," adding that the EA DICE shooter will, without a doubt, be "great."
Pachter also believes that the new "Battlefield" title won't have any problem raking in sales when it is released presumably later this year. He predicts that IPs will present little competition to "Battlefield 5" in the market.
The analyst recalled that last year, there were five titles that reached the 60 million mark in sales. These titles are the latest iterations of "Halo," "Fallout," "Battlefront," "Assassin's Creed" and "Call of Duty."
"This year, on the other hand, there are only four games, and one of them, 'Mafia 3,' isn't as big as the smallest of those others," Pachter revealed.
"So if Mafia offsets Assassin's Creed, and Battlefield does Battlefront... then Watch Dogs is competing for Fallout's share, and what happens to Halo's share? It needs to go somewhere, so it should be good for everybody," the analyst resolved.
While this is very likely, Gaming Bolt said that more games out of the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2016 might affect the shares. The Nintendo NX may also pose a challenge to "Battlefield 5" one way or another.
Meanwhile, rumor has it that "Battlefield 5" will be launched on June 12 during the EA Play, an off-site event the game publisher is conducting before E3.
This report comes from leaked images (by Reddit user KoXin), which also gives the "Battlefield" game the subtitle "Eastern Front." This hints that the title will be set in World War 1.
However, with no solid details about the source of the photos, it is best to take this with a pinch of salt and wait for EA DICE to drop official "Battlefield 5" release date information.
