There's a bit of good news for hardcore Arma fans waiting for the next game in the series: After years of anticipating Arma 4, there are still years of waiting ahead. Which doesn't sound "good" when I put it that way, fair enough, but the good bit is that the end of the wait is finally in sight.
The reveal of Arma 4's 2027 release target was unusual, to say the least. It came near the end of a two-hour concert performed by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra to celebrate developer Bohemia Interactive's 25th anniversary. And let me be clear: This was not a two-hour videogame show interspersed with musical bits as we get in, for instance, The Game Awards. This was two solid hours of classically trained Czech musicians doing their thing in a small, lovely theater, playing music from games including Arma 3, DayZ, Ylands, Vigor, and others, while clips of gameplay occasionally scrolled by on a large screen suspended overhead.
Also notable is that the announcement was a blink-and-you-missed-it moment: As the concert concludes, the words "Arma 4 coming 2027" briefly roll onto the screen—so briefly that I get the feeling someone brought the house lights up a little more quickly than planned. The message can be seen at 1:47:27 in the video—the link will take you directly there—but you can get a better look at it courtesy of ArmaPlatform on X:
Arma 4 then... pic.twitter.com/ce19TfDOSgOctober 17, 2024
Three years is a hell of a wait, and naturally there's some disappointment on that front; numerous Arma fans have pointed out that it's a virtual certainty they'll be playing Grand Theft Auto 6 long before they get their hands on Arma 4. (Not to bring the mood down even further, but factoring in potential delays, you might add The Witcher 4 and Elder Scrolls 6 to that list. Maybe even Star Citizen, if you're a real optimist.)
Others have somewhat grimmer takes on the timeline:
The bigger discussion, though, seems to turn on Arma 4's setting. Based on the cinematic clips leading up to the 2027 announcement, the general feeling is that Arma 4 is now confirmed to return to a Cold War-era conflict. That also fits with Arma Reforger, released in 2022 as a "small slice of the Arma 4 experience," which is set in 1989.
Some fans are disappointed that the new game apparently won't present a more modern conflict, with appropriately up-to-date hardware; others don't think it really matters because modders will run with it the moment Arma 4 is live. One redditor, Khaosmatic, made the interesting point that the Cold War is an ideal setting for videogames because warfare was still relative "analogue" at the time: "Things weren't laser accurate, the individual infantryman still played a huge role, and warfare was still very much about combined arms."
Of course, there's plenty of time to hash out the pros and cons of that and everything else Arma fans are speculating about in the new game: 2027 is still three years away, after all. I've reached out to Bohemia to ask if they have any more information to share, and will update if I receive a reply.
