Battlefield Players Are Arguing About Whether PC Gamers Should Be Able to Turn Off Ambient Occlusion

Ahead of the upcoming Battlefield 6 reveal, Battlefield fans have begun to debate about the use of ambient occlusion in the next game, and whether PC players will be able to turn it off. Currently, members of the Battlefield Labs program are able to test out some of the new features of the next Battlefield game on PC.

Battlefield 6 is in development by the largest team of developers that the franchise has ever had at Battlefield Studios, comprised of DICE, Criterion, EA Motive, and Ripple Effect. To aid with the game’s development, players can test several new features and pieces of content in the works in Battlefield Labs, and they can provide feedback directly to the developers. Regularly, new Battlefield Labs invites are sent out to fans, giving them the opportunity to join the program under a non-disclosure agreement in order to play the game. Battlefield Labs is accessible on PC, which has been a key platform for the Battlefield franchise over the past two decades. To get more performance out of a Battlefield title, players may reduce settings, including ambient occlusion, to boost their overall frame rate on PC. Since ambient occlusion is a shading and rendering technique that simulates light and shadow interactions, turning this setting off can reduce some of the overall workload for the title, and in turn, increase frame rate to varying extents.

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Reddit user 3deal ignited a debate on the Battlefield subreddit, stating that PC players shouldn’t be allowed to disable ambient occlusion and grass settings in Battlefield 6 when it launches. 3deal believes that every Battlefield 6 player should have the same visibility in the PC version, since turning these features off would disable some of Battlefield 6’s visual qualities and elements. The user’s Reddit post proved to be quite divisive, as many PC gamers and Battlefield fans would like to have the option to turn ambient occlusion and grass settings on or off, as the settings could affect performance and overall visibility on lower-end hardware, such as low-powered gaming laptops and budget PCs.

Battlefield Fans Argue About Potentially Turning Ambient Occlusion Off in Battlefield 6 for Better Performance on PC

Many Battlefield players also argue about whether Battlefield 6 will be properly optimized on PC or not. Some believe that the feature to turn off shadows and grass in Battlefield 6 shows a lack of diligence from the developers to ensure key graphical settings and features can run on a variety of hardware. Others just want to be able to have tools and features at their disposal in the PC version of Battlefield 6, but it’s clear that a common consensus likely won’t be reached yet when it comes to ambient occlusion. As a result, comments on the Reddit post are now locked, with Battlefield subreddit moderator OddJob001 saying that the discussion has gone “out of hand.”

The Battlefield 6 reveal is still planned for summer 2025, so players could soon get some insight into what’s going to be featured in all versions of the game, including the PC version. According to Battlefield Studios’ global senior director of integrated communications, Andy McNamara, the development team is focusing on Battlefield Labs leading up to the reveal. Battlefield Labs members have an exclusive opportunity to see how Battlefield 6 could change before the game’s reveal and subsequent launch. As previously confirmed by EA, the new Battlefield game is expected to launch within EA’s current fiscal year, which runs until March 31, 2026. EA CEO Andrew Wilson stated that EA plans to execute a “deep pipeline” of titles, beginning with the highly anticipated reveal of Battlefield 6 this summer.