Slipping?The next Battlefield could be released later this year, but EA said it may arrive in the first quarter of 2026 insteadWe may not end up playing the next Battlefield game this year, even if that's what most of us are counting on.Image credit: EA, DICE. News by Sherif Saed Contributing Editor Published on Feb. 5, 2025 EA has finally offered some guidance as to when we can actually expect the long-awaited next entry in the Battlefield series. This comes just one day after the publisher unveiled a new initiative, dubbed Battlefield Labs, designed to enlist the help of players to test various aspects of the upcoming game, and quickly iterate during this phase of development.The next Battlefield still doesnt have a proper title, however, and this weeks EA update didnt offer any details there.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. As part of the earnings results of EAs third quarter of FY2025, the publisher revealed that the next Battlefield will arrive in fiscal year 2026, which means it will be released between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026.This release window is actually very normal for EAs major franchises. For instance, prior to the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard on October 31 last year, EA said that the game wouldnt be out before October. The Veilguard was much closer to launch than the next Battlefield is, however, which is why the release window in our case is far wider - spanning the entire year.This is, however, the standard window for Battlefield, so nothing is out of the ordinary there. Usually, EA likes to launch its big, non-sports titles late in the year - think October-November. However, the disastrous launch of the most recent release in the series, Battlefield 2024, may impact its decision to push the game back to 2026, assuming theres enough of a need to do so.Things will look much clearer in the summer, as thats when we expect EA to properly reveal the game, announce a tighter release window, and start the marketing push. By that point, many impressions of Battlefield Labs testing will likely be out in the wild. Assuming theyre positive, it could embolden EA to push for a 2025 release. If word of mouth is critical, however, that could be what causes a delay to 2026.Until then, we can only rewatch those few seconds of gameplay tucked away at the end of the Battlefield Labs announcement so many times, even if the footage looks really good.