Rory Norris, Guides Writer
Last week I was: playing way too much of the Battlefield 6 open beta.
This week I’ve been: slogging my way through the Road to Battlefield event in Battlefield 2042, remembering why it’s my least favourite game in the series.
For all that Battlefield 6 has done right, at least during the open beta, there’s always been something to claw defeat from the jaws of victory. Hype had reached astronomical levels following glowing previews (including our own), backed up by an extremely positive first beta weekend. Hell, the two-weekend playtest period broke records for the series on Steam.
Still, the cracks (perceived or otherwise) began to show during the second beta weekend, and in this current climate, that’s a worrying sign for what feels like EA’s last-ditch effort to herald the series’ triumphant return.
With multiple issues compounding and surrounded with vitriol, it feels like EA has a ticking time bomb on its hands—and that’s coming from someone who played over 20 hours of the beta and feels completely lost now that it’s over. Battlefield 6 is going to be a blast, but it has three big hurdles it needs to overcome if it wants to bring the series back into the spotlight:
- Closed vs open weapons: Indecisiveness and attempting to accommodate these polar opposite ideas undermines class and weapon balance, and will sour the core gameplay, no matter how well-designed the maps are. Plus, having the closed weapon playlist be buried in Netflix-style UI was a brief controversy of its own during the beta; it can’t just be a tacked-on feature included out of obligation, since there’s a not-insignificant portion of the playerbase that values it.
- Map size and pace: Battlefield Studios’ intentional choice to focus on testing small and medium-sized maps in the beta proved that Battlefield can do Call of Duty-style CQC, but it’s also been the focal point of most of the ire. Despite assurances that large maps exist and that the flow will be just like previous hits in the series, it’s doing little to put a plug on any of the anger. I’m honestly very surprised the beta wasn’t extended to give us the opportunity to test a large map, as it would have gone a long way in improving the community sentiment leading up to launch.
- Seasonal content: Already, it’s clear that BF6 brings more to the table at launch than most recent games in the series, but we don’t know how it will be supported long-term. It’s here that players’ expectations run most wild, demanding an armada of new maps, guns, and gadgets, compounded by complaints that the launch build will only have three large maps—again, none of which we’ve seen in action, either.
I fear it’s only a matter of time until the next controversy bubbles up and the good vibes around Battlefield 6 turn sour.
The new, faster pace for BF6’s gameplay, with tighter maps and an open weapon system, runs a very real risk of pissing off series veterans more than it already has in an attempt to grab a new audience. It’s made only worse given how much BF6 ostensibly calls back to the class-restricted days of BF3.
However, it’s not actually all that new for the series, is it? Go back to the likes of Bad Company, BF3, and BF4; these iconic games all have their fair share of small maps focused on infantry gameplay. In fact, BF3 had a very similar debut, with the likes of Seine Crossing, Grand Bazaar, Operation Metro, Tehran Highway, and Noshahr Canals. Providing BF6’s large maps are indeed large and fun to play on, it shouldn’t be all that different. Again, though, post-launch support mustn’t let this slip.
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The time-to-kill has been far from simple, too, though, thanks to a “super bullets” bug that effectively caused players to die in an instant. While the developers have said they’re looking into it, players won’t be so patient with game-breaking issues like this at launch as they were in the beta—not helped by the series’ track record for broken launches.
Most of all, though, Battlefield Studios needs to sort out the closed weapon situation, especially how it relates to classes, if it wants any semblance of balance and diversity; you can’t have supports running around with the best guns, self-healing, and infinite ammo, let alone how quickly that power snowballs across a whole team. It’s an irreconcilable difference between the two camps, and no half-measure solution can perfectly support either option. Plus, the engineer class is screaming for a reason to exist right now, with so many maps lacking vehicles to begin with, which, coincidentally, has traditionally been Battlefield’s defining factor.
If Battlefield Studios can’t meaningfully resolve any of these tangible issues before launch—while also getting the community in a better shape—then I fear it’s only a matter of time until the next controversy bubbles up and the good vibes around Battlefield 6 turn sour.
While it’s partly selfish, as I’d very much love to be able to say “Battlefield is back” at every turn, it’s also a breaking point for EA following murmurs that “their goal is three studios making Battlefield on a three-year basis, so they can get to Battlefield annually.” Good luck with that endeavour if you’ve burned any goodwill remaining and created a divide in your audience.
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