Battlefield 6 Season 5 Teases Dead Space Crossover

Did you catch that ominous shift in the new Battlefield 6 trailer? Season 5 is bringing us a Las Vegas map where choppers and machine guns tear up casinos and skyscrapers along The Strip. But then the music fades, creepy sounds creep in, and it cuts to a bloom-filled scene with two Dead Space engineers staring up at The Marker. Yeah, that alien artifact that drills into your brain. Looks like a Dead Space crossover is on the horizon.

Earlier this year, Dead Space writer Chuck Beaver said sales were too low for EA to greenlight Dead Space 4. And series co-creator Glen Schofield, who also made The Callisto Protocol, retired from the industry after his spiritual successor didn't exactly set the world on fire. So the franchise has been in a weird spot. But Battlefield 6 players on Reddit already spotted potential Dead Space skins, rumored to launch in the Halloween update this October. So that's probably what we're getting.

Here's the thing: Dice previously said Battlefield 6 wouldn't feature goofy, immersion-breaking skins. That's done now, if these rumors are true. EA recently added a Dead Space skin to Skate and charged $40 for it, so there's precedent. Players weren't happy with the skin or the cost, so it'll be interesting to see if EA aims for more realistic pricing this time. Battlefield 6 did a Top Gun crossover before, but that made sense in a game with fighter jets. Dead Space? Not so much.

Season 5 of Battlefield 6 features three new maps, including Vegas Strip and Area 51, six new weapons, and two new vehicles. You can jump into Vegas on October 13. As for Dead Space, Beaver said on the FRVR Podcast that any new game would need to sell over 10 million copies to recoup costs. "Any of the Resident Evils are selling around seven million [copies], that's a pretty good number," he said. "But, you know, companies now are looking for the next Fortnite. They need something that is a perennial moneymaker… something like a single-player package game with no live-service offering that's like it's just a dinosaur fossil of a business model."

The Dead Space remake, developed by EA-owned Motive Studio and released in 2023, was well-received but apparently didn't do enough business to convince EA to invest in a follow-up. IGN's review returned a 9/10. We said: "Dead Space is a superb remake and undoubtedly the definitive way to experience one of the best survival horror shooters that Capcom never made." Beaver also mentioned that the sales threshold has risen. "Horror games have a bit of a ceiling, you know, and I think the number back in [former EA VP] Frank Gibeau's day was 5 million units to keep going on Dead Space," he continued. "I think the number is like 15 million units now, given the cost of things," he added, joking that it was "a sadness in capitalism for all of us to suffer, until AI makes it apparently easy for you and I just type 'make Dead Space 4.'"

In October last year, Schofield told IGN he hoped to bring the franchise back to life despite EA's lack of interest. "I went to [EA] recently and they're like, 'No, we're not interested anymore,'" he said. "I said, 'I can get back the leadership team. I need the models from EA Motive and I can save you 30 to 40 million dollars on the idea that I have.' And, they're like, 'No.'" He continued: "I have quite a few ideas that I'm ready to go with and one of them is Dead Space 4. The fact that EA just got bought, I think there's an opportunity. I'm already making calls."

So, what do you think? Are you excited for a Dead Space crossover in Battlefield 6, or does it break your immersion? Will you be picking up those skins if they drop? Let us know in the comments!