Here’s the Reason Why Battlefield Labs Leaks Are Always Recorded From a Potato
[summaraize]
By now, chances are you’ve seen some of the leaks connected to Battlefield Labs; playtests of the new Battlefield game. If you’re annoyed or wondering why the footage seemingly always comes from a “potato camera,” there’s a good reason for that.
Apparently, it’s intentional, as it avoids the new detection EA has put in place for the playtest client to track leakers.
EA Hides Leaker ID in Plain Sight in Battlefield Labs Playtests
According to one of the leakers, who goes by the name of Detcik, EA has put the player ID all throughout each participant’s screens that is nearly impossible to see unless under the right conditions. In one such condition that is more visible to the naked eye is when browsing in-game menus, where the environment is much darker, which is part of the reason why so many leaks have avoided to show those parts off. However, during gameplay, the player ID watermarks are almost non-visible. This has lead to some early videos simply cropping out things like the kill feed, and squad members.
Unfortunately that hasn’t been very foolproof, because as we mentioned, EA has actually plastered player ids all over the screen. They just made it very hard to see. To understand this better, the leaker has provided us with an example. We have added it to a before and after screen (ignore the images being different) to show how players see their screens, and what’s actually there. The images are from James Cameron’s Avatar. Yes, completely unrelated, but the example remains related.
The Avatar image above is an example of how the player ID is splashed all over a player’s screen, and according to the leaker, this image was used by them to practice how to bypass EA’s anti-leak system. The anti-leak measures EA has taken mean that one is always active and is always visible as it moves around the screen. Others are hidden in the same place but hidden, and do not change colors and cannot be seen.
The leaker also gave the following statement regarding the leak:
“I believe EA should recognize that, even if we’re sharing things they might not like, we are all Battlefield fans. We mean no harm with these leaks. In fact, I think we’ve actually helped reinforce EA’s confidence in what they’re doing, and we’ve already genuinely fallen in love with this new project.”
“That said, I’d ask everyone to be mindful when giving feedback on changes. Unfortunately, many players don’t even know what they really want. We always remind people that these are just tests and that everything is still subject to improvement.”
Unlike others, we’re not here to complain or publicly voice dissatisfaction. We simply present things as they are, always keeping in mind that EA is working to refine the game and that everything can still change.
I also believe that, in some way, our leaks are already helping EA sell the game in the future.”
This is partly why there’s so much camera footage roaming around, rather than direct HD footage captured via a console’s recording feature, or from a decent enough PC that could also do recorded captures. That means that leaked footage probably isn’t going to get any better in terms of quality, though at least you now know the reasoning behind it.
Oddly enough, EA hasn’t pulled any leaked multiplayer footage as of press time. Perhaps it’s due to the positive reception? Whatever the reason is, we’re thankful since that means we can see how the game’s progressing even if we’re not part of the playtests.
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