EA Play 2020: Everything in store for the next-gen

With EA Play Live 2020, EA had the chance to showcase their upcoming plans for games about to launch until the end of the year and also to show what they have planned for the next generation of consoles.

EA had quite a few announcements to make, but very few of them brought something new to the table, or a detailed look at an upcoming game, most of the presentation being about new additions to existing games or just announcement trailers.

Apex Legends:

The popular battle royale game that saved a seat for EA at the big boys table, right next to PUBG and Frotnite, is getting additional content with the brand new Season 5 expansion. The new season will introduce a new playable character and a few special events with unique content. In addition, Respawn Entertainment has announced that the game won't be an Origin exclusive any more and it will be coming to Steam as well as adding Switch to the list of available platforms.

It Takes Two:

Josef Fares the, let's say flamboyant man in charge of Hazelight, made a comeback announcing the next game of his studio, after Brothers: A tale of Two Sons and A Way Out. The new game is called It Takes Two, and just like the previous titles from the studio it will have a heavy focus on story. The graphic style of the game is also changed drastically having a drawn out aspect. The story focuses on a little girl being affected by her parents divorce, and in order to cope with the situation she creates a whole story in her imagination where her parents must work together, as a team, to solve the problems.

Star Wars Squadrons:

Star Wars Squadrons, the next game in the most popular franchise ever, made an appearance at the show. Currently developed by EA Motive, Squadrons revealed the first look at the gameplay.

The game is set after the events from Return of the Jedi and aims to be the best Star Wars pilot game. With a single player and a multiplayer component the game wants to cover all bases. The campaign gives the player control over two different pilots, one from the New Republic and one from the Empire.

The highlight of the presentation was about Fleet Battles. Available in multiplayer, the battles will start in a hub area allowing players to plan their strategy and will expand into the vast space.

The game is set for release on October 2 of this year on Xbox, PS4 and PC, aiming to have full VR support and also promising, just like the last Star Wars game, no micro-transactions.

FIFA 21 and Madden 21:

Probably the most critiqued games from EA, FIFA and Madden NFL, had nothing to show really at EA Play 2020. EA did not show any gameplay or new additions to this years editions of the sports franchises that it has the rights for. All they had for this event was a small trailer where they have showed CG images of the tow games, under the EA Sports banner, naming the announcement EA Sports Montage.

Rocket Arena:

Final Strike Games offered a small taste of their first game called Rocket Arena, a 3v3 hero shooter that relies heavily on the use of rockets... in case it was not obvious. The developers promise a lot of fun and unique mechanics in store for players that we can all experience on July 14, when the game launches.

Sims 4:

It seems EA is on a path to change a few things regarding their games. They showed Sims 4 at this event because, just like Apex Legends, the game along with all the expansion packs is arriving on Steam.

Next-Gen Teasers (Dragon Age, Battlefield, Need for Speed):

When it came to future plans, EA did not have much to show, just a series of very short tech teasers for new games of existing franchises that will be launched.

As it was announced recently, the development of the next Need for Speed was taken over by Criterion Games and what they had tow show was how shiny their shinning cars will be and how much they'll shine once we can play the game.

A few glimpses of the next Dragon Age were shown with no details attached to them, but the images look very impressive, to be honest.

Battlefield 6, is another long awaited game that is currently in development. DICE is working on even more impressive graphics and also testing the potential the next generation of consoles can offer in order to create massively scaled battles.