There is a conflict brewing in Battlefield 6, a secret underground war spanning generations. The fledgling Zoomer Rebellion rallies its forces against the House of Battledads over a crucial resource that will decide the fate of the FPS genre for years to come: Movement mechanics.
That is, if the community’s to be believed. See, during the Battlefield 6 beta, jumping and sliding was significantly nerfed to ensure the game didn’t devolve into a Titanfall-esque parkour fest, where the newest generation (with their intact reflexes and youthful spirit and hair, grumble grumble) wouldn’t simply clown on long-time series fans because they know how to b-hop or knife-boost or whatever these dang kids are calling it nowadays.
The question remains, however, whether DICE went overboard. As user
Jean Martin on X asks principal game designer Florian Le Bihan (thanks, GamesRadar+): “‘Zoomers’ were liking movements in the beta. In the release ‘battledads’ like the movement. Can we get an inbetween to please all the community? Also it will be better for the BR part I think.”
I have not heard the term battledads before, and while I’m sure it’s an outdated idea to assume everyone playing BF6 are men, it does kinda encapsulate a key problem. The folks who played games like Battlefield: Bad Company 2 back in the day are now 15 years older—and even if they’ve not started their own families, they might not be anywhere near zooted enough on energy drinks to keep up.
Conversely, though? Movement tech is sick as hell, and maybe us geriatric gamers ought to make way for the new generation. Especially in FPS games, breaking the movement engine is a tradition as old as Counter-Strike.
“We’re looking at adjustments for sure to find a good in-between,” Bihan replies. “We already have some changes that are cooking on our side and monitoring the feedback for more.”
In a separate thread responding to user Slixx, Bihan clarifies: “We won’t go back to Open Beta movement but we are working on some slight adjustments that will help with some parts that feel a bit clunky. We’ll share more about that as soon as we can!”
I wish DICE the best of luck. Finding a middle ground that still lets the zoomers have a little skill expression (as a treat) without making the old guard feel hard done-by? That’s a real challenge. But hey, it’s working out so far, given Battlefield 6 is flying off the shelves at 7 million copies in three days.
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