Battlefield 6's live action trailer is its biggest jab at Call of Duty yet, makes a point out of blowing up Zac Efron

A new live action Battlefield 6 trailer has been released which takes shots at Call of Duty’s celebrity-focused marketing strategy, introducing a squad of household names including actor Zac Efron before quickly blowing them up.

This squad, which also features basketball player Jimmy Butler, country singer Morgan Wallen, and MMA fighter Paddy Pimblett walk across a ravaged bridge to Smashing Pumpkin’s The World Is A Vampire. They all represent one of the classic Battlefield specialist classes, with weapons covered in colourful camos and charms.

After Zac Efron and his crew explode, they are replaced with a collection of standard looking modern military soldier types take their place and engage in typical video game live action trailer shenanigans. It’s a two-birds with one stone affair where EA has clearly taken a little pot shot at its largest competitor, while also highlighting several key selling points for Battlefield 6 – those being a lack of gaudy cosmetics and the death of a limiting specialist system.

Battlefield 6 has proved exceptionally popular judging by its open beta tests, and has established itself as a real competitor to Call of Duty this year. It’s done so by tackling many problems FPS players have had with Call of Duty for several installments now – those being the prevalence of crossover and cameo skins, as well as a shift away from its modern military roots (at least as far as the multiplayer is concerned).