Summary

  • Data miners have suggested that Battlefield 6 could include a free battle royale mode.
  • Fans are sceptical of the mode, saying it has a low chance of success and, as a result, is a waste of resources.
  • Battlefield has attempted a battle royale before with Battlefield 5: Firestorm.

Ah, battle royales. While the genre is still relatively popular, we've moved beyond its heyday, which began in 2017 and likely peaked shortly after that. The battle royale genre was so powerful that it grew Epic Games into the gaming behemoth it is today, and had a similar effect on Krafton, now a large conglomerate on the back of PUBG's success.

Although the popularity of battle royales has waned in recent years, some studios are still trying to popularise their own takes on the genre. Considering the success of Call of Duty: Warzone, Fortnite, Apex Legends and PUBG, there's no doubt that battle royales are a tough market to get a significant share of.

Another Day, Another Battle Royale

According to data-mined information from the semi-private Battlefield Labs playtest, Electronic Arts and the various studios working on Battlefield are attempting to tack a battle royale onto Battlefield 6.

Battlefield Labs is an invite-only playtest for the upcoming unannounced Battlefield game. Despite not having a title yet, many fans refer to the upcoming game as Battlefield 6.

Battlefield Labs may as well be a faucet with how widespread leaks from the playtest are. Data miners pore over every update, searching for new additions to the game's code and their implications.

The existence of a battle royale mode for Battlefield 6 has been data-mined multiple times, recently coming up once again in a data mine posted on Reddit by Jjhh201. This particular data mine points to the existence of a free battle royale mode, as well as a paid campaign.

It's not the first time EA has experimented with a battle royale mode in Battlefield. Firestorm was a battle royale game mode for Battlefield 5 that was added post-release. Although people praised Firestorm for its fundamentals, the mode wasn't free-to-play, and unfortunately, released just after Apex Legends, hurting the mode's potential popularity.

That being said, Battlefield fans aren't eager to see EA give it another go in Battlefield 6. In a thread about the recent data mine, Dhndz wrote, "I'm giving the battle royale two months at most before it's completely dead. There are too many established triple-A battle royales to play, and nobody comes to Battlefield to play a battle royale. What a complete waste of resources."

Every past thread about the rumoured battle royale mode has had a similar prevailing sentiment: players are confused about why EA is putting resources into a mode with a low chance of success. "I'm just bummed they're doing a battle royale again," writes -MERC-SG-17 in a separate thread.

It's an understandable opinion, given that Battlefield is generally positioned as a more grounded alternative to 'arcade' multiplayer first-person shooters like Call of Duty. If a player is playing Battlefield because they're looking for a military sim shooter that's more accessible than the hardcore games of that subgenre, they likely have little interest in playing a Battlefield battle royale.

Battlefield 6 doesn't currently have a release date, but Electronic Arts' chief executive officer, Andrew Wilson, has suggested it could be next year.

Battlefield

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