Overview

• EA’s Battlefield Studios released a Sept. 28 live-action launch trailer featuring Zac Efron, Morgan Wallen, Jimmy Butler and Paddy Pimblett.
• The celebrity squad is immediately wiped out by a rocket before the focus shifts to regular operators, punctuated by the exchange, “Who was that?” “Doesn’t matter.”
• Coverage widely reads the ad as a playful dig at Call of Duty’s celebrity-heavy marketing and crossover skins, set to The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Bullet With Butterfly Wings.”
• Reporting ties the authenticity push to recent Call of Duty course corrections, with Treyarch said to have canceled some collaborations and halted carry-forward skins for Black Ops 7.
• Battlefield 6 launches October 10 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, with pre-loading scheduled to begin October 6.