Battlefield: an explosion in Gaza used in the artwork of the next game

Last September, Vince Zempella spoke with IGN to present the main lines of the next Battlefield. An opus which should mark a return to the modern era, with the return of cards for 64 players and character classes. For the occasion, EA Games had shared a first concept artwho is making headlines again this week.

L’artwork shows a city engulfed in flames and explosionsthe burning forest may recall the Los Angeles fires, but it is an element between the letters A et T which is more disturbing. As conceptual artist Emad Alden noted on X/Twitter, Electronic Arts obviously used an image of a real explosion in Gaza to create its visual. TheGamer looked into the subject and indeed found in the database of Reuters a photograph taken by Ibraheem Abu Mustafa on May 21, 2021, showing an explosion in Gaza following an aerial bombardment launched by Israel.

Emad Alden, who is not related to EA Gamesexplains that conceptual artists sometimes have to finish their visuals in a hurry, the author of theartwork probably retrieved this explosion image from a database without knowing its origin. A story reminiscent of that of War Thunderand artwork of the game of Gaijin Entertainment used the space shuttle explosion Challenger. The developer then explained that he had found this smoke in a reference pack on aerial explosions, without knowing the terrible context that accompanied it.

For now, Electronic Arts did not react to this matterbut there is a good chance that theartwork be removed from the game’s promotional campaign. The next Battlefield is developed by DICE (multiplayer), Motive Studio (single player campaign) and Criterion Games as reinforcement.

You can find Battlefield 2042 from €34.49 on Amazon, Cdiscount et Fnac.