Former Blizzard president says Battlefield 6 will 'boot stomp' Call of Duty this year

Battlefield 6 has seen a lot of positive feedback with fans lining up to try out the open beta. Despite some cheaters getting through even with the kernel-level anti-cheat, gamers seem to be enjoying their early access to the game. Not just gamers, executives in the industry also believe Battlefield 6 will be a major success, to the point where it could dwarf what Call of Duty has to offer.

From 2021 to 2024, Mike Ybarra was the president of Blizzard Entertainment and has now shared his thoughts on the latest Battlefield game. Ybarra posted on X that Battlefield will boot stomp Call of Duty this year. Battlefield 6 is releasing on October 10 but the early access open beta has seen a major influx of players. Ybarra added that Call of Duty, on the other hand, has gone downhill due to cheating, heavy installation requirements, among other reasons.

He had a more positive outlook, however, stating that this might be the jolt that Call of Duty needs to step up its game. “But the real win here is CoD won’t be lazy anymore, and we’ll all get better FPS games for it,” Ybarra stated. While the overall response is positive, commenters somewhat disagree with the sentiment because they don’t believe Call of Duty will change and that it will still outsell Battlefield.

This sentiment echoes what Activision reportedly feels about Battlefield 6 being a threat. While the former Blizzard president believes Battlefield 6 will come out on top this year, a recent report stated that Activision is not worried since Call of Duty is “too big to fail.” The next CoD game, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, is scheduled for later this year and it will likely release in November.