EA Play Live – In review

This year’s EA Play Live was too much to contain in a single event, so the game developers held four events before the main event. This helped each game announcement hold its own limelight for a little while, instead of being lost in the crowd.

The main event was hosted by Austin Creed, and was packed with trailers, reveals, and gameplay footage.

During the pre-show, EA repeated some of its earlier announcements like The Sims 4 Cottage Living expansion pack, which is now available. This news came accompanied with a new “moo-sic” video from indie rocker Japanese Breakfast for her hit single “Be Sweet” — performed in the language of Simlish.

On the FIFA side of gaming, EA revealed two more players coming to the Ultimate Team Heroes,  with current manager of Manchester United, Ole Gunner Solskjaer, and German star midfielder Lars Ricken.

At the start of the main event, EA revealed Grid Legends. The latest in Codemasters’ racing franchise introduces an in-depth story mode filmed in XR and delivered in documentary style, narrated by Ncuti Gatwa of the Netflix comedy series Sex Education. The game also includes new driver-personality AI that makes opponents behave more like human racers, new city races in London and Moscow, and a race creator that lets players design mixed-class races. The game is launching in 2022 on last- and current-gen PlayStation and Xbox consoles, as well as PC.

EA also showed off Apex Legends Emergence, the next major update for the company’s popular first-person shooter. Emergence introduces an entirely new Legend named Seer, a recon-focused character who’s able to track and hunt down enemies — even through walls. The Apex Legends Global Series will be returning for year two this September, bringing with it crossplay between PlayStation, Xbox, and PC; Pro League and Challenger Circuit competitions; and a base prize pool of five million dollars. Emergence arrives on 3 August.

One of the biggest announcements was Battlefield Portal, a community-driven platform that can give players the ability to discover, create and share battles. This mode will allow users to take maps from across the Battlefield games and build custom experiences featuring characters, vehicles, gadgets and weapons in a large number of combinations. Battlefield Portal launches in Battlefield 2042 on 22 October.

A new EA Original, Lost in Random, introduces players to a dark fairy-tale world where every event is driven by chance. Players must combine tactical thinking with the randomness of dice-based battles through the use of spells, a slingshot, and a living die named Dicey, fighting their way through a series of board game-themed arenas. Lost in Random launches on 10 September on consoles and PC via Origin and Steam.

Details from Season 2 of the chaotic dodgeball game Knockout City were also revealed. Dubbed “Fight at the Movies,” the new season features a cinematic theme as players explore a new map, the Holowood Drive-In. The season launches on 27 July on consoles and PC via Origin and Steam.

Last, but not least, Dead Space is being remade and updated for the latest gen consoles. The critically acclaimed survival horror game is being rebuilt from the ground up to harness the power of next-generation gaming hardware. Far more than a remaster, it will feature completely rebuilt assets and new technology, using the powerful Frostbite engine to craft a more immersive experience. Developed exclusively for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, Dead Space will be released worldwide on a date that has yet to be announced.

To watch the full event, click here.