How to reveal a game: EA’s Battlefield 4

A look back at one of my favorite games and it's revealing at E3, enjoy.

Feb 04, 2025

Ah E3.. that classic event where all the triple-AAA video game companies revealed what they had in store for the next year of gaming. Showcase after showcase, revealing “next-gen” games for Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo. One of the biggest reveals came out of a huge franchise that had fans begging for a new game.

Back in 2013, Electronic Arts (EA) and DICE spurred the internet with teasers of the next Battlefield installment. Multiple photos and short videos were posted with barely any context online, but each ended with a message pointing towards the big reveal at E3 in Los Angeles that year. Short, mysterious clips of military vehicles being slowly turned on like the one below got the attention of the biggest fans, giving clues as to the setting of the game.

A short clip of a Submarine turning on and moving away from the camera. At the end the words “Prepare 4 Battle” were splatted on the screen quickly. https://ign.com/videos/battlefield-4-teaser-trailer

On March 27, 2013, EA Revealed the first gameplay of Battlefield 4 through a short walkthrough of one of the early campaign missions, “Fishing In Baku.” Incredibly cinematic, the 17-minutes of gameplay revealed next-gen destructive elements and character models that still look sharp when compared to 2024-2025 video games today.

EA writes in the description of the video that the gameplay below “…is the first glimpse of the human, dramatic and believable single player campaign.”

At E3 2013 starting June 10th, visitors were given the opportunity to play multiplayer matches of Battlefield 4. Known as the “Siege of Shanghai” demo, players were thrown into a match taking place in China, with a looming tower stuck in the middle of the map. As players held different objectives and started crossing the map with all the new vehicles to play with, they realized the world of the game was incredibly destructive. Everything was revealed in real time for them.

Before the match begun, this loading screen popped up while players waited to join the action.

Walls were blown to pieces by tanks, helicopters could be seen spiraling down into the ocean and 4-runners were racing off the top floor of the skyscraper after breaking through windows, falling down into the ocean below with the driver parachuting to safety. All of these moments could not top the destruction of the tower itself. On the map, players realized they could destroy four pillars holding the tower in place, resulting in the whole structure tumbling down into the ocean. It was an outstanding showcase of the power built inside the new consoles as well as the destructive-capable engine running Battlefield 4.

Paused gameplay showcasing the tower collapsing. It’s impressive how the graphics and destruction hold up in 2025!

After the multiplayer showcase at E3, EA wasn’t going to waste the hype. All over social media, they infused short-clips with cool or funny moments recorded during player’s trial of the game at E3, pushing the popularity of the game and its unique gameplay elements towards all ends of social media. The best part of the short gameplay clips was the interview of the player doing the action. The message behind the clips was clear: this type of gameplay can only happen in Battlefield 4. EA made a distinction between other first-person shooters with this message, particularly their main competitor, Activision and Treyarch’s Call Of Duty franchise.

Advertised as an “Only in Battlefield” moment, TV-Spot trailers such as the one below further pushed the hype of Battlefield 4: https://ign.com/videos/battlefield-4-only-in-battlefield-tv-spot

To wrap all the new destructive features and epic moments, EA, on top of the live clips of gameplay with the added player commentary, posted a 6-minute clip of a fake match played out during E3. The clip’s title on YouTube and its players acted like everything was real in the match, but the enemy players and vehicles moved as if they were apart of a controlled scene.

A screenshot from the scripted gameplay, showing an enemy helicopter purposely firing every shot around the team of players we follow. The gameplay I am referring to: https://youtu.be/N7l-eUmhEW8?feature=shared

The scripted match fully captured the “Leviathan” destruction and “All-Out War” gameplay that was repeatedly spoken of in the trailers. It showcased a perfect match with gameplay elements millions of players hoped to experience in-game: A squad with great teamwork, an action scene with the team out running an enemy helicopter and using the destructive environment to take down an enemy vehicle. In reality, as pointed out in many YouTube comments below this very video, the scripted gameplay is not what every match would look like in Battlefield 4.

Most of the comments are as shown, a nostalgia for the epic destructive gameplay and a quip about how different the scripted match was to an actual match.

The fact that it was scripted doesn’t matter anyway, as it worked to increase the game’s popularity and sales among worldwide upon release. The first five weeks of its release generated $1 Billion dollars for EA. Battlefield 4 would sell more than 20 million copies during its first year, 25 million in 2014 and 30 million in 2015.

The E3 reveals, along with the dozens of clips posted online, generated hype and enthusiasm that would carry the game to be one of EA’s best selling Battlefield’s in the franchise. By showcasing the players epic moments and allowing them to narrate the clip, the community became more connected to the game, as they were apart of the process of the multiplayer reveal.

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