Shooter Monthly #9: Battlefield's Hot Streak, Gears Goes Helldiving, and the Battle Pass Plateau

Shooter Monthly #9: Battlefield's Hot Streak, Gears Goes Helldiving, and the Battle Pass Plateau

From Deconstructor of Fun by Deconstructor of Fun

September 2, 2026 · 1h 1m

About this episode

The episode discusses the current state of shooter games, focusing on the competition between major franchises and their approaches to battle passes and live services.

Shooters are having one of their best summers in years, and every major franchise still can't agree on what to do about it.The crew runs through the battle pass shakeup hitting Call of Duty, Battlefield and Overwatch, breaks down why Battlefield is quietly beating Call of Duty on Steam, and picks apart Apex Legends' run as the most consistent live service in the genre. They also dig into Gears of War: E-Day's beta results against Helldivers 2, unpack why War Bonds aren't actually battle passes, and argue about why Western studios keep playing it safe while Eastern developers experiment their way to the top.Topics Covered:• The battle pass shakeup across Call of Duty, Battlefield and Overwatch• Why Battlefield is outperforming Call of Duty on PC despite the franchise's rocky years• Ranked play, Battlefield Labs and the Elite Top 250 leaderboard• What's next for Battlefield now a new mainline entry isn't landing next year• Call of Duty's tech unification and the tradeoffs it created down the line• Apex Legends' revenue consistency, live ops machine and collab strategy• Apex's growth potential in China and Japan, and the case for reviving Apex Legends Mobile• Why battle royale modes…

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Call of Duty, Battlefield, Overwatch, Apex Legends, Gears of War, Helldivers 2, Arc Raiders

Places: China, Japan

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