There was a time inBattlefield’s history when the series was able to not only keep up withCall of Dutybut actively compete with the juggernaut’s sales numbers.EAwants to return to that era via Battlefield 6, but the lofty expectations the publisher has for the next game in the series might be setting it up for failure.
Although we still don’t know much about the next Battlefield - it doesn’t even have a name yet -it’s expected to launch before the end of the current fiscal year. The little we’ve heard about the game has been pretty positive too, with Battlefield fans liking what they’ve seen from the leaked test footage. However, if a new report on the state of Battlefield 6courtesy of Ars Technicais anything to go by, all is not well.
EA Is Expecting A Lot From The Next Battlefield
It Thinks 100 Million Of You Will Want To Play It
According to the report, pressure from EA to ensure this is a new, successful dawn for the Battlefield series has led to clashes internally with the budget for Battlefield 6 shooting through the roof. It’s believedthe development costs have already surpassed $400 million, and having spent that much on making it happen,EA is expecting Battlefield 6 to pull in more than 100 million playersso that it can compete with the likes ofFortniteand Call of Duty.
According to Fandom, only 40 games across all platforms have ever reached 100 million players, andCall of Duty: Warzoneis at the very bottom of that list.
If the next Battlefield were to somehow pull in that many players, it would need to more than triple the sales of the most successful games in the series to date,Battlefield 1. Battlefield 6 will reportedly include a free-to-play mode, likely a battle royale, which will undoubtedly help it achieve higher numbers than the series has ever seen before.
For it to pull 100 million players, though, might be expecting a little much, and devs working on the game are feeling the pressure. Everyone who spoke to Ars Technica either needed to take leave from the project due to exhaustion, or knew of someone who had. Two developers who had worked on other triple-A games, both within EA and at other studios, said they had never seen burnout on this level before.
All of that combined with the pressure of having this game ready to go before the end of March makes it feel like the next Battlefield is doomed to fail. Hopefully that’s not the case, and whether it be giving the teams working on it longer to make the game as good as it can be, or setting a more realistic goal for a potential playercount, even with free-to-play elements, something needs to change if Battlefield 6 is going to be a return to winning ways for the series.
