Unannounced Aliens Fireteam Elite 2 suddenly appears on US ratings board

It's a great time to be a co-op shooter fan. Helldivers 2 continues to impress with its evolving galactic war. The stunning Space Marine 2 is gearing up for a second year of support. Even Call of Duty Zombies is in a decent state these days, and Black Ops 7 looks to continue that trend very soon. However, appearing on the US age ratings board is a newcomer I didn't expect, one that hasn't been officially announced but was briefly rumored last year. A sequel to the 2021 co-op survival game, it appears that Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is in the works, and it could be arriving rather soon.

The Alien franchise has produced all manner of games in the past, both in terms of quality and genre. From one of the most heart-pounding and technically clever horror games ever, Alien: Isolation, to the disastrous first-person shooter, Aliens: Colonial Marines, you never truly know what you're going to get until it's right there in your hands. As for the 2021's Aliens: Fireteam Elite, it was a decent, class-based survival shooter that many enjoyed (an 82% positive user score on Steam is fairly good going) but I personally wouldn't label it as a must-play. However, in the current era of brilliant co-op games, maybe there's a chance for a sequel to build on those foundations to create something a lot more memorable and revered.

While there's been no official announcement of Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2, what appeared to be a leaked presentation, posted to Reddit last year, claimed the sequel was in the works under the codename Project Macondo at Cold Iron Studios, the developer of the original.

Cold Iron said in a September 2023 statement that it's working on a new game that's "building on the success of Aliens: Fireteam Elite," but has never explicitly confirmed that it would be a sequel. Since that announcement, which also confirmed a new studio head and game director for this mystery project, there's been silence from Cold Iron.

However, as was spotted by Gematsu, a page for Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 has now suddenly appeared on the ESRB website. For the unaware, the ESRB is the entertainment ratings body for the US, Canada, and Mexico. While it doesn't list a developer, the page does show Daybreak Game Company as the publisher of the project - Daybreak's parent company said in 2023 that it "will publish Cold Iron's exciting new multiplayer action shooter based on a major global IP license across PC and consoles for release in 2025." While none of this 100% guarantees that Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is being developed by Cold Iron, that's a lot of dots connected.

ESRB has given the game an M for Mature rating, due to its inclusion of "blood and gore, strong language, and violence."

Aside from the aforementioned, anonymous leak on Reddit last year, I can't find any other evidence of Fireteam Elite 2, so seeing its name randomly appear in this way is rather surprising. Given it's in a condition to be rated, and Daybreak's parent company said it would be ready in 2025, there's also a very real possibility it could be just a few weeks out from launching. If so, it'll be a very quick turnaround between actually announcing it officially and releasing it. Maybe we're getting a shadow drop? I do love a shadow drop…

Daybreak has been contacted for clarification, and we'll update this with any new comments.

Until we hear more about Fireteam Elite 2, our best space games list has some great co-op hits you can play with your pals. A reminder too that our best graphics card guide is full of expert advice if you're looking to upgrade your PC in the near future.

Did you play the original Fireteam Elite? If so, head to our community Discord server to let us know what you thought of it.