EA has announced a new free trial for Battlefield 6, to try and help boost its flagging player numbers.
It seemed like Battlefield 6 was on top of the world by the end of last year. It had a very strong launch, selling over 6.5 million copies in just a few days, and became the US’s best-selling game of 2025, beating long-time rival Call Of Duty for the first time.
Unfortunately, its popularity has seriously waned in the past five months and, earlier this week, EA cut jobs across all four of the game’s development studios, as a result of a ‘realignment’.
Now, no doubt as part of a bid to drum up interest in the game again, EA has announced it is making Battlefield 6 free for anyone to play for a week, to coincide with a new update for the game’s second season of post-launch content.
When does the free trial for Battlefield 6 start?
This Battlefield 6 free trial kicks off on Tuesday, March 17 – the same day as the new content update – and runs until the following Tuesday on March 24. Exact start and end times haven’t been shared though.
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To access the trial, you’ll need to download the free-to-play battle royale spin-off Battlefield Redsec on your platform of choice. Don’t worry, EA has stated that this trial isn’t for Redsec; it is for the main game.
The trial includes a new Nightfall playlist that’s being added as part of season two. It features variations of the Team Deathmatch, Squad Deathmatch, and Domination modes that are set on a new map – Hagental Base – and turn the lights out, thus requiring you to use night vision goggles.
Also included is an All-Out Warfare playlist that contains the game’s Conquest, Breakthrough, and Escalation modes it’s had since launch, which can be played across four maps, including Hagental Base and the Contaminated map that was added last month.
Lastly, there’s the Casual Breakthrough playlist, which is described as a ‘more relaxed way’ to experience Battlefield 6. It’s meant for newcomers, since teams are smaller and include a deliberate mix of human and computer-controlled players.
What is included in the Battlefield 6 free trial?
Nightfall
- Includes Team Deathmatch, Squad Deathmatch, and Domination. In this specific playlist, the lights are out and the hunt is on, requiring squads to use Night Vision Goggles or attachments to see into – or light up – the dark.
- Features the new Hagental Base map
All-Out Warfare
- Includes fan-favorite mode Conquest, the intense frontline battle of Breakthrough, and a mode introduced at Battlefield 6’s global launch: Escalation, a battle that escalates over time with redefined map boundaries and additional vehicles.
- This playlist features four maps: two from Season 2 – Contaminated and Hagental Base, to be released in the Nightfall update – as well as Eastwood from Season 1 and Mirak Valley from the game’s day one rotation
Casual Breakthrough
- Features three maps:Â Hagental Base, Contaminated, and Eastwood
- A more relaxed way to jump into Battlefield 6 while still earning progression and completing challenges, perfect for new players or those looking for a less intense experience compared to a full PvP playlist.Â
- Smaller player teams: 16 real players (eight per team) with 32 bot teammates/enemies (16 per team)
Season two officially started on February 17, following a four week delay to give it extra polish and refinement. It consists of three monthly updates, so a third batch of content should follow in April.
How successful this free trial will be is anyone’s guess, since even if EA does manage to sell more copies, it then needs to keep hold of those new players; something Battlefield 6 has clearly struggled to do since launch.
On Steam alone, its player numbers are nowhere near the hundreds of thousands they were at launch and it’s difficult to imagine them ever reaching the 100 million target EA reportedly has for the game.
In fact, the last time the game offered a free trial, the game’s Steam player count only saw a slight boost before quickly dropping again and even the launch of season two made little difference.
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