In a surprise move for an age in which release dates are constantly being pushed back, Titanfall 2 has been announced to be releasing months before its previously estimated release date of before Match 2017.

While that usually means we’d be looking at maybe an early 2017 release window, GameSpot has seen an earnings report from the publisher EA in which the release date has been narrowed down to be launched during the third fiscal quarter of the year. In other words, around October to December.

This probably means that for their big sequel EA are aiming to get Titanfall 2 out just around Christmas towards the end of that quarter. They’ve another game coming out too that is similar, with Battlefield 1 having a release date of October 21st and Call of Duty’s latest incarnation Infinite Warfare from rival Activision releasing on November 4th. EA will probably want to avoid releasing too near either for the risk of losing sales due to players having to choose just one shooter genre game at the time.

Of course, this is far from a confirmation of any release date, but it’s a fair bet we’ll see Titanfall 2 being advertised as a gift for this Christmas, and it’ll be available on both Xbox One and PS4 along with PC so it’s hitting the three major platforms as well.

Hopefully it’ll be just as attention grabbing as the first game, but maybe have a little more longevity.