The popularity war between Battlefield and Call of Duty has been waged for almost two decades, with the former dominating in terms of popularity in the last few years. However, for the first time in a while, Call of Duty has officially overtaken Battlefield, mostly due to its immensely popular Blackout mode.
Thanks to some deft analysis by GitHyp, Call of Duty has been found to be winning all the important metrics, including Twitch and YouTube. Black Ops 4 has already topped the highest concurrent Twitch viewer mark set by its predecessor WWII, reaching 367,000 compared to WWII’s high of 141,000. Comparatively, Battlefield I’s reveal peak hit 354,000 in 2016, yet V’s May reveal reached only 150,000.
Over at YouTube, Black Ops 4 and Battlefield V share similar viewcounts, but important differences can be seen in the reception of these videos. The Blackout reveal video clocks in at 12 million views, similar to Battlefield V, but has a much better ratio of likes to dislikes.
This substitution of hype, according to GitHyp, comes down to three major factions: Blackout mode, Battlefield’s representation controversy, and consumer distrust in EA and DICE. Battlefield’s battle royale mode, named Firestorm, was absent from its beta, which majorly impacted its performance on Twitch. With Fortnite dominating the public gaming consciousness at the moment, Battle Royale modes are needed to thrive. Now, with rumors that Firestorm may not even be available for Battlefield V on release, the series’ strong position in 2018 is threatened.
Running parallel to DICE’s incapability of making the most of industry trends is the controversies surrounding the company. Regardless of the fair justification of its inclusion of female soldiers in Battlefield V, the choice has not proved popular with its player base. This, combined with the lootbox fiasco that marred Battlefront II, has led to a consumer base that is growing disillusioned with EA and DICE as a whole.
Interestingly, GitHyp has tipped Black Ops 4 to overtake PUBG when it launches October 12, cementing itself as the second most popular royale game.
