Earlier this week, EA took its first steps toward reveal Battlefield’s next series entry – mostly in the form of teasing chatter from series boss Vince Zampella, but also by way of an enigmatic bit of concept art. But now, an internet sleuth reckon he’s identified the real-world location featured in the image, potentially revealing where Battlefield is heading next.
Beyond vague talk of EA’s design goals for the new Battlefield, about the only concrete bit of information Zampella shared earlier this week was that it would move away from the future setting of 2021’s poorly received Battlefield 2042, instead taking place in the “modern day”. And if internet investigators are correct, we might now have an additional bit of information: that at least some of the new Battlefield’s action will take place in Gibraltar.
That’s according to content creator TacticalBrit (thanks IGN), who peered through the smoke and fire of EA’s Battlefield concept image and successfully identify three landmarks correlating to Gibraltar’s real-world geography. There’s a large multi-storey carpark (that’ll be the two adjacent white buildings in the foreground to the left, according to Google), a series of apartment buildings on a rocky elevation to the right, and an stretch of land protruding out into the water far in the background.
“After doing more takes at the Battlefield concept art,” TacticalBrit wrote in a social media post, “I feel almost 80 percent certain this is in fact Gibraltar. Makes perfect sense for any game with a theoretical conflict as Gibraltar acts as a strategic bridge between Europe and Africa.”
Assuming TacticalBrit’s deduction is correct, we’ve now got one new bit of Battlefield information to add to the still slender list. That list also includes Zampella’s confirmation the new game will feature Classes instead of Battlefield 2042‘s unpopular Specialist system, and that it’ll include more focussed maps compared to its predecessor. As for when we’re likely to learn more, that remains unclear – although Zampella did say EA wants to get players in early, and that details on that will be shared next year. “Because that’s kind of the core of what we have to do,” he explained, “get the community back on our side, get that trust back.”