Battlefield 6 is Betting Big on a Historical failure

As one of the industry’s biggest shooters, a lot is riding on Battlefield 6’s unmitigated success. Recently, it was reported that EA expects Battlefield 6 will hit 100 million players, and with a $400 million budget to match, it’s clear the publisher is expecting great things on a scale yet unseen in the franchise’s history. After the last two releases received mixed receptions, there is a big emphasis on EA and DICE to get things right from the start.

In the lead up to Battlefield 6 release, EA has been careful to state that the series is in good hands and is returning to its roots. However, if this is the publisher’s objective, then some recent news about a controversial mode coming to the game seems very strange. Battlefield has been going through an identity crisis for a number of years now, and by betting big on a historically failed mode, it’s in danger of repeating a very painful lesson.

Battlefield 6 call of duty competition win back fans

Battlefield 6’s Biggest Competition Is Closer to Home Than Call of Duty

Battlefield 6’s biggest competitor should be Call of Duty, but there’s one even bigger hurdle standing in its way before it can resume the rivalry.

Battlefield 6’s Leaked Battle Royale Mode Is Betting on the Series’ Biggest Weakness

If previous rumors were not enough to confirm it, Battlefield 6’s battle royale mode details leaked this week, showing a slice of the introduction cutscene as well as several details specific to the BR. The inclusion of an alternate mode to the series’ mainstays of Conquest and Rush has been part of EA’s plans for Battlefield 5 and 2042, which offered Firestorm and Hazard Zone respectively. But to call these modes selling points would not be accurate. From day one, neither of them saw the player counts that EA needed to sustain support for them, and many players quickly fell back on each games’ classic playlists. There were numerous reasons why the modes didn’t take off, but ultimately, both should have set a precedent that chasing trends in Battlefield was not going to be a winning strategy.

DICE’s Strength Is Not in Battle Royales, but EA Wants to Try Anyway

This pursuit of a BR mode comes at an especially puzzling time for the market. Fortnite and a couple of other titles dominate the BR scene, to the point where plenty of new, promising BRs fell at the first hurdle as they were drowned out by huge competition. As such, it seems odd for Battlefield 6 to be chasing a gradually diminishing market, years after its peak. Though with a live-service BR able to make astonishing amounts of money if it succeeds, and Apex Legends is struggling with lower player counts right now, EA likely sees it as a risk worth taking.

Despite Apex’s perceived stagnation, it still regularly draws in over 100,000 concurrent players six years after it was released.

The biggest problem with a Battlefield 6 Battle Royale is that DICE is not a studio known for making one that clicks. As mentioned above, the studio has tried twice to follow an industry trend and had its hopes dashed, so it is hard to believe that there will be a third time lucky. It would be better served by trying to win back Battlefield fans’ trust rather than BF6 trying to run before it can walk. But, if Battlefield 6 really wants to face off against Call of Duty, it could instead innovate via a small-scale, fast-paced mode focused on tactical gameplay. Call of Duty’s Skirmish mode is copying Battlefield, after all, and BF firing back might be a good way to take players who have become disenfranchised with CoD, rather than chasing trends that failed to convert players to Battlefield. For better or worse, though, another attempt at a battle royale mode from Battlefield seems very likely at this juncture.