It already looked as if everything was going very well for the newest entry in EA's acclaimed first-person-shooter franchise, but the first player numbers for Battlefield 6 far exceeded expectations... and the record previously set by competitor Call of Duty.
A Great (Pre-)Launch
Despite Battlefield 6 only being set to release on October 10, 2025, the game has already broken records.
Due to EA wanting to first test the waters and collect some player feedback, a public beta for the first-person-shooter was made available for a limited time from August 9 to 10, with "early access" to said public beta already starting a bit earlier. Even during this early access period, the game already shattered records in terms of Twitch viewership, but with the public beta being opened to the masses over the weekend, it managed to sport even more staggering numbers:
The game, not even having fully finished development, has hit a peak of 517,853 concurrent players on Valve's Steam service, according to the independent website Steamcharts. In comparison: The Call of Duty launcher, which is offered on Steam to play multiple different video games in its respective franchise and is thus effectively embellishing its player count, has only ever reached a peak of 488,897 concurrent players.
A Fierce Competition
People taking note of the discrepancies between Battlefield and Call of Duty is done for good reason: The two franchise juggernauts by companies EA and Activision have competed head-to-head in the FPS space for decades by now, with Call of Duty so far continously emerging on top. But this generation could mark a turning point:
With 2025 seeing the release of both Battlefield 6 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, the two have enjoyed surprisingly unequal amounts of hype. Activision's product has uncharacteristically lagged behind, considerably losing ground to its rival in many online circles. While the company is said to be unconcerned, considering the intellectual property to be "too big to fail", some have wondered if this paradigm shift might mark the downfall of the annual-release series.
Whichever the case, if the shooter continues to far exceed expectations, the impact on the industry will be unavoidable, with there being a undeniable possibility that any trends in terms of setting, gameplay or monetization advanced by Battlefield 6 may soon become more widespread in the FPS genre as a whole.
Until then, what do you think? Can the game reap the rewards of its hype in the long-term, or are these player numbers just a fluke? Let us know in the comments!