What Is Going on With Battlefield 6?

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It’s fantastic to see ARC Raiders thriving after the holidays! The game recently topped the Steam charts and reportedly reached 12 million sales this weekend. Plus, the news that several studios are interested in turning it into a film or TV series is really exciting. While it’s not flawless, it’s great that so many players are enjoying this multiplayer shooter, particularly in the challenging extraction shooter genre, for months now.

And what about the other major multiplayer shooter that came out a few weeks earlier? We’re talking about the highly anticipated sequel – a top-quality game that cost $70 and sold over seven million copies in just three days. What about Battlefield 6?

The game seems to be performing adequately, but it currently has a “Mixed” rating on Steam. While this decline in positive reviews has been happening for a while, recent data shows only 53% approval. We don’t know how players on consoles feel, but the PC numbers aren’t great – and it’s now dropped below 100,000 peak concurrent players. Just recently, the 24-hour peak was at 94,088, but it has since fallen to 90,816 concurrent players.

This isn’t the first time player numbers have been low – they’ve dipped even further during past holidays, and were generally higher in between those times. Starting the new year of 2026 with such a low number of concurrent players isn’t ideal.

To make matters worse, by the end of 2025, Battlefield 6 had only 16% of its highest ever concurrent players. In comparison, ARC Raiders held onto about 90% of its peak audience. This is especially striking considering Battlefield 6 originally had over 265,000 more players at its peak than ARC Raiders. Surprisingly, Battlefield 6’s numbers have even fallen below those of Battlefield 2042 at its best, which feels almost predictable given the circumstances.

Of course, there are some important things to keep in mind. Console numbers aren’t necessarily the same as what we’re seeing on PC. In the United States, Circana’s data actually showed Battlefield 6 at ninth place on PlayStation and eighth on Xbox as of December 27th. Also, the PC player counts don’t include people playing through the EA App – and while it might seem small, there are likely quite a few doing so! We’re probably talking dozens of players.

Looking at weekly player numbers on Steam in the US and Canada, Circana data shows the game is performing well, ranking third behind Counter-Strike 2 and ARC Raiders. In Mexico, it came in fourth, just after Marvel Rivals. Overall, it’s clear that Battlefield 6 isn’t losing popularity.

Despite the initial excitement, things aren’t going well with the game right now. Players are very unhappy with the Battle Pass, finding it too difficult and frustrating to progress through. They dislike having to complete weekly challenges, often forcing them to play game modes they don’t enjoy. This was especially problematic when the RedSec update launched, as players who weren’t interested in the battle royale format were still required to play it to advance.

Players could have tolerated the game’s purchases and expensive cosmetic items if Battlefield 6 were free-to-play, or even if the cheaper options looked better. But it costs $70, and on top of that, the single-player campaign is weak, there are constant ads pushing the battle pass, and even smaller events require extra purchases. And let’s not even talk about Battlefield Pro.

On top of everything else, the main multiplayer gameplay started to have problems. People were already concerned about the small size of the Conquest maps and the new game modes, and now there were issues with things like registering hits, sound, and finding matches. Even basic features stopped working reliably – defibrillators didn’t work, and the main menu would break after each game.

It’s almost remarkable that Battlefield Studios released two truly terrible maps in a row at the start of Season 1. While not as noteworthy as the AI-generated player card they included in a cosmetic pack – which seems like a test to see how far they can push things – it’s still a noteworthy blunder. This happened shortly after Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 received backlash for relying too much on AI-generated content.

It’s not particularly shocking to see interest in Battlefield 6 declining, as this has been a gradual process. It brings to mind the game’s launch, when many players were highly engaged despite its imperfections. Back then, the developers seemed genuinely responsive to feedback, actively addressing concerns and maintaining open communication – something we hadn’t seen in a while.

Beyond just promising improvements, the game needs to actually get better with each update, and so far, major changes have consistently made things worse. It’s not even about balancing the gameplay, though some recent adjustments, like giving the attacking team more vehicles, are confusing. The real problem is the ongoing bugs and the fact that each new patch seems to create more issues than it solves. This is a key difference between this game and ARC Raiders – which, in addition to listening to player feedback, generally releases well-received updates (though, of course, there are still complaints).

Battlefield 6 isn’t failing because it’s a bad game; it’s frustrating players with ongoing issues. The core experience – how it feels to move, shoot, and play the objective-based modes – is actually quite enjoyable, and many fans agree it’s the most fun the series has been in years. It’s disheartening to see it hampered by either profit-driven decisions or technical problems, slowly eroding the experience.

It’s actually fortunate Battlefield Studios is facing these challenges now. Taking the time to properly address problems and fix the core issues will benefit them in the long run. We saw this with Battlefield 4, which had a disastrous launch with its multiplayer. Instead of ignoring the problems, DICE worked with the player community to completely turn the game around.

While not perfect, the next Battlefield game shows more promise than Battlefield 2042, which immediately struggled. The developers might not get weapon balance exactly right, but they can focus on what players want: bigger maps, improved versions of popular modes like Rush and Breakthrough, naval battles, dedicated servers, and better rewards through the battle pass. Adding desirable cosmetic items that players will enjoy unlocking would also be a plus.

EA is clearly determined to keep the profits coming from this game, so they likely won’t allow the developers to simply ignore player concerns. The real question is how long they’ll dedicate to addressing the community’s needs before shifting focus to a new project. Now is the perfect time to take action and remind fans what makes this game series so enjoyable.

Please be aware that the opinions shared in this article belong solely to the author and don’t reflect the official stance of GamingBolt.

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2026-01-09 17:53