It finally happened. Months later and after much hype…Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s campaign is finally free to play in its entirety with the latest free trial. If that wasn’t enough, Black Ops 7 will feature open matchmaking and persistent lobbies following an underwhelming response to the beta.
Oh, and Battlefield 6 has finally been released on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. And became the series’ biggest launch on Steam to date.
This shouldn’t be too surprising. Analysts estimated more than 1.8 million sales on the platform before launch, with over $100 million in revenue. The open beta was also extremely popular – the peak concurrent player count on Steam surpassed that of Call of Duty in its entirety. However, shortly after launch, Battlefield 6 reached a peak of 747,440 concurrent players. This isn’t just above and beyond anything that Call of Duty has achieved on Steam – it’s several times higher than the lifetime peaks for Battlefield 5 and 2042.
Server queues are in the tens of thousands at this time. A bug on the EA App meant those who owned the game on the publisher’s own storefront couldn’t play, causing them to refund and purchase it again on Steam. While Xbox and PlayStation numbers remain to be determined, there’s no doubt that the shooter has sold millions already in its first day. After years of doubt and stagnation, we can finally say it: Battlefield is back.
For those on the outside looking in, it isn’t just the fact that multiplayer is a fun time, even with its issues (map sizes, lack of dynamic weather, no naval warfare, etc) or that the campaign is better than many reviews give it credit for (spoiler: It’s a mixed bag). It also doesn’t boil down to Call of Duty returning to the Black Ops well for the second consecutive year and disappointing in almost every way (at least, based on the beta, and whatever we’ve seen from the campaign). It’s not even like there haven’t been other realistic military shooters to fill the void left by Battlefield – Hell Let Loose come to mind, whether you’re in the mood for a World War 2 setting or something more contemporary.
For many, it’s the feeling that only a new Battlefield could bring, but I think it goes even deeper. It’s also about the sheer amount of effort that’s gone into the experience, and not just from the number of studios onboard. DICE, Ripple Effect, Criterion and EA Gothenburg (formerly Ghost Games) all worked on Battlefield 2042, and the results were, to put it nicely, an absolute disaster. Just a few months later, Electronic Arts announced a complete revamp to its Battlefield approach uniting its multiple studios (with Motive joining the fray).
Despite the silence and lack of announcements for more than three years, the collective, eventually dubbed Battlefield Studios, continued plugging away. Even as rumors emebyrged about how the campaign wasn’t coming together under Ridgeline Games and EA sought a seemingly impossible player number, there was still some hope. With Zampella confirming a return to a modern setting, and getting back to the “peak” of Battlefield (specifically Battlefield 3, 4 and even 1942), it felt like the team was cooking something special.
However, rather than outright announcing it, the studios revealed Battlefield Labs – a massive playtest initiative to help build the game alongside players. There was a fair number of leaks and much back and forth, but Battlefield 6 was finally revealed last July. Even then, the development team wasn’t done, hosting additional playtests and an open beta. It even committed to a Battle Royale-focused playtest before fully unveiling everything about it.
Believe it or not, but that kind of initiative isn’t lost on fans. Several are likely newcomers to the franchise, excited by the seeming resurgence of the franchise, but many players have stuck with Battlefield for a very long time. The series’ identity – its Classes, realistic destruction, massive environments, combination of vehicular and infantry combat, and objective-focused gameplay – spoke to them in a way that Call of Duty didn’t. It took Battlefield 2042 completely ruining those fundamentals for those fans to peace out.
With Battlefield 6, it became clear that DICE understands what made the series so appealing in the first place and how to win back long-time fans, starting with the assurance that its cosmetics would remain completely grounded and realistic at a time when Call of Duty’s collaborations were becoming increasingly bizarre. Despite the open beta’s positive reception, it faced excessive flak for the lack of a proper server browser (even though Portal wasn’t enabled), the erratic time to kill, and more.
It could have easily ignored those concerns or at least downplayed them in the name of “The Vision,” and yet, the developers immediately set to work on addressing them. Heck, it even revamped classes like Assault and added a brand new training path to Recon. It also assured fans that their requests for naval combat had not gone unheard, which wasn’t immediately met with cynicism.
Make no mistake – the execution of everything, from the modern setting and sound design to the gunplay and optimization, is top-tier. But none of this would’ve been possible if the team didn’t take a step back and actually try to appease fans, which, given the sheer range of opinions out there, is no easy feat. Feathers are still plenty ruffled by allowing every Class to use every weapon, but at least Closed Weapons received a dedicated playlist for those craving the classic Battlefield experience.
I say this often for pretty much every multiplayer shooter, especially one with a live service model – as solid as the launch may be, the real test will be after. Not just in the post-launch roadmap and how much content the teams can consistently deliver, or the monetisation (this is still a $70 title from Electronic Arts, after all), but in how it responds to feedback. Battlefield 5 improved significantly through various updates over the years, and yet a single patch with sweeping changes to time-to-kill was all it took to turn fans against it.
The explosive popularity of Battlefield 6 is enough for most players to ignore its most nagging flaws, but not forever. Sooner or later, DICE will have to respond to the various demands and calls for changes. Even something as simple as battle royale not being a fun time would be enough to turn positive sentiment against it. Whether it continues to embrace the current model of communication and work with fans to improve things remains to be seen. After all, no live-service shooter has a spotless record.
However, what’s most important in the here and now is that Battlefield is back and tons of fun to play. It’s fun to go on the flank and take out an enemy squad while reviving your downed allies, or go on a tear with a tank and destroy buildings left and right. It’s fun to soar through the skies in a jet, dropping bombs that miss half the time when you’re not busy fighting other players. Where there was despair and widespread sadness at how DICE had massacred the franchise, there’s a rediscovery of all those elements that make it so near and dear to longtime fans. And it is glorious.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
