Battlefield 6 | |
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Developer | Battlefield Studios [a] |
Publisher | Electronic Arts |
Composer | Henry Jackman |
Series | Battlefield |
Engine | Frostbite |
Platforms | |
Release | October 10, 2025 |
Genre | First-person shooter |
Modes | Single-player, multiplayer |
Battlefield 6 is a 2025 first-person shooter game developed by Battlefield Studios [a] and published by Electronic Arts. Serving as the eighteenth installment in the Battlefield series, the game was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on October 10, 2025. The single-player campaign is set in 2027–2028 and features a conflict between a fractured NATO and Pax Armata, a private military company. The multiplayer mode features four character classes: Assault, Engineer, Support, and Recon, who each specialize with different weapons and combat strategies, and has several returning game modes with the new Escalation mode being added.
After Battlefield 2042 (2021) received critical derision from both critics and players, a new title in the series began development under the leadership of Vince Zampella. Influenced by previous entries Battlefield 3 (2011) and Battlefield 4 (2013), Battlefield 6 takes a serious tone. With an estimated budget exceeding $400 million, the game is one of the most expensive video games to develop.
Following leaks from March 2025 to July, Battlefield 6 was officially revealed the latter month. The open beta periods were held in August, with the first attracting over 500,000 concurrent players on Steam. Battlefield 6 received positive reviews from critics upon its release.
Similar to its predecessors, Battlefield 6 is a first-person shooter. The game features four character classes: Assault, Engineer, Support, and Recon. The Assault class is proficient with assault rifles and grenade launchers and favors a run-and-gun playstyle with faster health regeneration. The Engineer class uses submachine guns, can repair friendly vehicles, and specializes in destroying hostile vehicles with rockets. The Support class excels with light machine guns and supports teammates by resupplying ammo, placing makeshift cover, and healing and reviving allies. The Recon class can carry out battlefield reconnaissance, uses sniper rifles, and is ideal for long-range engagements as a headshot kill prevents opponents from being revived. [2] While any class can use any weapon, each class has unique gameplay perks when using specific weapons. For example, Recon players can hold their breath while aiming with a sniper rifle. [3] Weapons can be extensively customized with mods, but each weapon has a designated attachment point limit that cannot be exceeded. [4]
Battlefield 6 also introduces several quality-of-life improvements, including a new movement system called the "Kinesthetic Combat System", which allows players to lean around cover, hitchhike onto vehicles, and drag fallen soldiers to safety before reviving them. [3] As with previous entries in the series, the game emphasizes environmental destructibility. Buildings can be demolished with explosives, and obstacles or floors can be destroyed to create new paths. Maps are sprawling, suitable for both infantry and vehicular combat. Each map also includes "Combat Zones"—smaller, more confined areas designed for close-quarters combat. [5] At launch nine maps are available, with additional maps planned for release through post-launch updates. [6]
Battlefield 6 offers multiple multiplayer modes, including returning modes such as Conquest, Breakthrough, Rush, Team Deathmatch, Squad Deathmatch, Domination, and King of the Hill. The battle royale mode from Battlefield V is expected to return. A new mode, Escalation, pits two teams against each other as they seek to control capture points in a map. However, the number of points gradually decreases, funneling players into specific map areas. [7]
The Battlefield Portal feature returns in Battlefield 6 with a complete overhaul from its Battlefield 2042 iteration. In 2042, Portal was limited to a basic visual block editor and web-based configuration options. Battlefield 6's Portal is powered by the Godot engine, providing map creation and game logic tools that represent a significant advancement over the previous system. [8] The new editor enables creators to build custom game modes, design original maps using Battlefield 6's existing map foundations and assets, and script complex gameplay mechanics.
EA showcased Portal's capabilities prior to launch with demonstrations including a recreation of Counter-Strike 's "Dust II", complete with bomb defusal mechanics, as well as various custom modes such as zombies survival and racing challenges. [9] [10] Within two days of Battlefield 6's October 10 release, the community had already produced notable creations, including a remake of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 's Shipment map and a Star Destroyer constructed from in-game assets, demonstrating the editor's versatility. [11] Portal experiences can be shared through a dedicated community browser where players can discover and play user-generated content. [12]
Set in 2027–2028, Battlefield 6 follows members of Dagger 1-3, an elite team of U.S. Marine Raiders who must fight against a private military company named Pax Armata which seeks to "reshape global power as NATO teeters on the edge of collapse". [8] [13] Members of Dagger 1-3 include assault specialist and squad leader Master Sergeant Hayden "Haz" Carter (Damon Dayoub), engineer Gunnery Sergeant Dylan Murphy (Jay Walker), sniper Staff Sergeant Simone "Gecko" Espina (Ashley Reyes), support specialist Staff Sergeant Cliff Lopez (Jack Murillo), and Lucas Hemlock (Nikolai Nikolaeff), a mysterious CIA operator with a heavily redacted background. The campaign also features Melissa Mills (Erica Luttrell), a CIA liaison connected to the squad’s missions, and ex-SAS operator Alexander Kincaid (Tony Curran), former friend of Carter's turned Pax Armata field commander, and the game's primary antagonist.
In 2027, NATO forces in Georgia prepare to clear out of the country to make way for Pax Armata, ostensibly in a peaceful transfer. While preparing for a briefing, Gunnery Sergeant Dylan Murphy and his U.S. Marine Raider squad Tempest 1-2, end up at the center of a massive, unprovoked offensive conducted by Pax forces. Murphy rallies up Tempest to destroy critical cybersecurity installations to keep them from enemy hands before evacuating, but their helicopter is hit mid-flight; outnumbered and outgunned, Murphy is left the sole survivor before reinforcements arrive to extract him.
Over the following year, the NATO Secretary General is assassinated; Pax Armata claims responsibility, and after seeing little response from NATO, twelve nations leave the coalition in favor of supporting Pax while conflict begins between the two sides. Murphy is reassigned to Dagger 1-3, and in March 2028, Dagger 1-3 takes part in an offensive on Gibraltar, supporting British forces in an attempt to weaken Pax's chain of command, but the latter are wiped out by a surprise strike by Pax; the local field commander, Alexander Kincaid, subsequently escapes.
In June, Mills directs Dagger to extract Fayek Selim, a biometrics CEO willing to provide intel on Pax, from Egypt, which has been occupied by the PMC, with the assistance of Ibrahim Al-Khatib, leader of Egyptian Army special forces Unit 777; the mission goes awry as despite reconnaissance assuring that Selim's estate was clear, Pax forces are already present on the grounds; Selim ultimately dies but Dagger is able to acquire the intel he had via a RFID chip in his thumb.
The chip reveals that Kincaid is planning a massive attack in Brooklyn, New York, where a NATO summit is being held, so Dagger is deployed to stop it. They discover that Kincaid has commandeered old subway tunnels to house transmitters that would redirect missiles launched by a US destroyer meant to provide security towards the summit, as Kincaid planted a mole on board, but Dagger manages to keep the summit from suffering the brunt of the attack before realizing that Kincaid's real target is US President Fernandez. A day later, Pax Armata ambushes the President's motorcade with a full-scale assault, even bringing in mechanized units; Dagger extracts the President, but Kincaid manages to ambush Carter and Murphy; he fatally injures the former before letting the latter go with a cryptic warning to retire before he's "used up".
The attempt on Fernandez's life invigorates NATO, and they form a global response force, formally declaring war on Pax Armata; several months later, in September, Dagger, now led by Murphy and with the addition of Hemlock, is sent to Tajikistan ahead of NATO's main offensive to deal with air defenses near a critical dam before joining it to perform a decapitation strike on Pax's leadership, assassinate Kincaid, and prevent hypersonic missiles carrying a powerful explosive nano-compound known as NXC from launching, but while confronting Kincaid he reveals that Pax Armata was backed by the CIA to provide a convenient enemy that would provide NATO the necessary integrity to stay together; before he can surprise attack Dagger, however, Hemlock manages to kill Kincaid. Mills cuts contact with Dagger and lets NATO forces bomb Kincaid's bunker, forcing the team to escape before they're killed.
Weeks later, after Hemlock pulls some strings, Dagger leads a raid on Mills' home, where they put together the pieces surrounding their missions: Pax Armata attacked NATO in Georgia because they were after "Project Veles", technology which could black out satellite imagery and which was housed in the installations Murphy destroyed; the operation in Gibraltar was their second, successful attempt at acquiring it, allowing them to operate unseen in critical operations like in Egypt, Brooklyn, and Tajikistan; Selim was selling to both sides by providing Pax with the intel they needed to conduct their Brooklyn assault; and Kincaid was, indeed, Mills' main man within Pax Armata. Together, they supplied the PMC with the NXC and the intel on Veles. After dealing with a Pax team sent in to extract Mills, Murphy executes her.
Battlefield 6 is developed by DICE, Criterion Games, Motive Studios and Ripple Effect Studios, under the collective branding of Battlefield Studios. [14] Before the studio's closure in 2024, Ridgeline Games was also involved in the development, focusing on the single-player campaign. [15] DICE leads the multiplayer development. Motive and Criterion lead the development of the single-player campaign, with Motive also contributing to multiplayer map design. Ripple Effect Studios is currently leading the development of the battle royale mode. [16] Following the negative response to the previous installment Battlefield 2042 (2021), focus was put on attempting to improve that game and developing a new entry via Battlefield Studios under Vince Zampella, who was installed as overall head of Battlefield weeks after the launch of 2042. [1] In July 2025, Ars Technica reported that the game faced significant development challenges, including team burnout and exhaustion, cultural clashes among the four studios, unrealistic sales expectations from EA, and a ballooning budget far exceeding $400 million. [17] This would make Battlefield 6 one of the most expensive video games to develop, described by EA CEO Andrew Wilson as an "all-in as a company" effort. [1]
Following the response to 2042, EA launched "Battlefield Labs", a closed-access worldwide playtest for Battlefield 6, allowing DICE to collect feedback from players and make gameplay adjustments. [18] Battlefield 3 (2011) and Battlefield 4 (2013), described by Zampella as the "heyday" of the franchise, [19] were cited by the team as their main sources of inspiration, and the team added that the game will have a "serious" tone. [20] Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (2010) influenced the creation of the "Tactical Destruction" system, [21] [22] and the team made an intentional design choice to prevent players from destroying all buildings in a map. [23] Given the limits to the system memory of the Xbox Series S, the development team had to implement software optimization to accommodate the technical limits, the benefits of which technical director Christian Buhl said applied to the game as a whole. [24] Battlefield 6 will be the first mainline Battlefield game since Battlefield 4 to include a linear narrative campaign. [25] Motive further added that Lioness and Civil War , stories about "talented but ordinary people put in extraordinary situations", inspired the team. [26]
Battlefield 6 utilizes EA's new kernel-level anti-cheat Javelin, which requires that secure boot be enabled in the computer's firmware. [27] An earlier version of Javelin was first introduced into Battlefield 2042 in late 2023, with earlier Battlefield titles receiving updates in 2024. [28] During the open beta period, which used Javelin, players reported conflicts between Javelin and Riot Vanguard, Valorant 's kernel-level anti-cheat software. Phillip Koskinas, the head of the anti-cheat team at Riot Games, stated that while Vanguard can co-exist on the same system with Javelin, Battlefield 6 does not allow the Valorant launcher to be running simultaneously. [29] [30] Electronic Arts claimed in August 2025 that the Javelin anti-cheat has blocked over 300,000 attempts to cheat. [31]
In February 2025, publisher Electronic Arts announced Battlefield Labs and released gameplay from a pre-alpha build. [32] By March 2025, early gameplay footage from Battlefield Labs had been leaked online by playtesters. [33] The title was leaked early in July 2025 when EA sent packages to influencers featuring the Battlefield 6 logo. [34] The game was officially revealed as Battlefield 6 on July 22, 2025. [35] [36] Two open beta periods were held in August 2025; progression awarded players with items that could be used in-game at launch. [37] The first open beta period attracted more than 500,000 concurrent players on Steam. [38] [39] Following the open beta period, Battlefield 2042 received an update that added a new battle pass. It features items that could be used in Battlefield 6. [40] The campaign trailer debuted at PlayStation's State of Play in September 2025, [41] and a live-action trailer starring Zac Efron, Paddy Pimblett, Jimmy Butler, and Morgan Wallen playing roles based on the game's classes was released on September 28, 2025. [42] Battlefield 6 was released on October 10, 2025, for PlayStation 5, Windows and Xbox Series X/S. [1]
Shortly after launch, players reported having issues on Windows, specifically the EA App, where the game, despite being purchased and installed, apparently required the purchase of DLC to play; on Steam, players reported that the game remained unavailable when attempting to download. [43] Battlefield Studios confirmed on Twitter that they were diagnosing the issue; they offered affected players in-game bonuses, with players who bought the "Phantom Edition" gaining access to the following season's battle pass. [44] During the outage, Battlefield director Vince Zampella spoke out on Twitter regarding the situation, calling it "honestly embarassing". [45]
Aggregator | Score |
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Metacritic | (PC) 84/100 [46] (PS5) 83/100 [47] (XSXS) 88/100 [48] |
OpenCritic | 91% recommend [49] |
Publication | Score |
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Eurogamer | 4/5 [50] |
Game Informer | 8.5/10 [51] |
GameSpot | 8/10 [52] |
GamesRadar+ | 4/5 [53] |
Hardcore Gamer | 4/5 [54] |
IGN | SP: 5/10 [55] |
NME | 3/5 [56] |
PCGamesN | 9/10 [57] |
Video Games Chronicle | 4/5 [58] |
VG247 | 4/5 [59] |
Battlefield 6 received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. [46] [47] [48] OpenCritic determined that 91% of critics recommended the game. [49]
Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
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2025 | Golden Joystick Awards | Best Multiplayer | Pending | [60] |
Best Audio Design | Pending | |||
Best Game Trailer | Pending |
As part of our ongoing efforts to create a safe and fair experience for all players we're transitioning Battlefield™ 2042 over to EA anticheat in October 2023, Battlefield™ V in April 2024 and Battlefield™ 1 in October 2024.
[...] the company saw players report 104,000 "instances of potential cheaters" over the first two days of the game's being online, and that it stopped 330,000 "attempts to cheat or tamper with anti-cheat controls."