EA Delays Battlefield to Avoid GTA 6 Clash

2025 is shaping up to be a blockbuster year for triple-A video games, with the highly anticipated launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 and its exclusive titles leading the charge. The lineup doesn't stop there; later in the year, gamers can look forward to heavyweights like Borderlands 4, Mafia: The Old Country, and Ghost of Yōtei. And, as tradition holds, Activision is likely to release a new installment of Call of Duty around October or November.

But the crown jewel of 2025's gaming calendar is undoubtedly Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 6, slated for a fall release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S. Despite the buzz, there's still a question mark hanging over its launch date. Take-Two, Rockstar's parent company, remains committed to the fall 2025 window, yet the uncertainty surrounding GTA 6, combined with the competition from other major titles, presents a challenging landscape for EA's upcoming Battlefield game.

EA has earmarked its next Battlefield for release within the 2026 fiscal year, which ends in April 2026. This timing puts it squarely in the shadow of GTA 6, and potentially in competition with the new Call of Duty and Borderlands 4. The question then becomes, how much does EA need to consider the release dates of its competitors when planning Battlefield's launch?

In a recent financial call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson acknowledged the competitive nature of the gaming market and hinted at the possibility of delaying Battlefield if necessary. "Certainly, we exist in a competitive marketplace," Wilson stated. He emphasized the unprecedented investment in this Battlefield title, involving four studios and a significant amount of development time, aiming to make it the largest in the franchise's history. Wilson stressed the importance of launching in a window that allows the game to reach its full potential and grow its community accordingly.

"I do believe that this year might be a nuanced year relative to competition," Wilson added. "There may be some things happening in the year that may cause us to think differently about our launch timing. We have an FY 26 launch window that the team is targeting. We believe the game will be great and ready at that time, but if we got close to that timeframe and believed that this wasn't going to be a great window for us, then we would take a look at what an alternate window might be that would give us the appropriate time, energy, and player acquisition opportunity for this Battlefield to be all that it needed to be."

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As it stands, the new Battlefield is set to launch before April 2026. If we speculate a November 2025 release—following the pattern of previous titles like Battlefield 2042 and Battlefield 5—what happens if GTA 6 launches around the same time? EA might consider delaying Battlefield to the first quarter of 2026, still within its fiscal year.

Alternatively, if EA is already planning a Q1 2026 release for Battlefield and Rockstar delays GTA 6 to the same period, EA could either advance Battlefield's launch or push it beyond the fiscal year. This would be a significant move, but one that Wilson's comments suggest EA is prepared to contemplate.

It's clear why EA, along with many other third-party publishers, is eagerly awaiting Rockstar's announcement of the GTA 6 release date. Once that's revealed, whether it sticks to the planned fall 2025 slot or shifts into 2026, the gaming industry's release calendar will undoubtedly start to fall into place.