While Battlefield 6 has not yet been officially announced and the name is not confirmed, there is a general sense of optimism surrounding it. This optimism is based on statements from the team and the insights gathered from secret testing phases that have been leaking online.
Internally, Electronic Arts also seems optimistic, but reports suggest that they are aiming for extremely high results, possibly even too high.
Are EA’s Expectations for Battlefield 6 Unrealistic?
According to a report from Ars Technica, EA’s strategy of involving multiple internal development studios to create Battlefield has led to an increase in the budget to $400 million, which has brought several production issues along with it.
It seems that the single-player campaign has made significantly slower progress compared to the multiplayer mode. Key features still lack a clear direction, which is concerning, especially since the game is supposedly entering its Alpha phase. On top of that, EA’s leaders have set expectations so high that even the developers themselves don’t believe they can meet them.
EA wants Battlefield 6 to reach 100 million players “over a set period of time that included post-launch.” This is an extremely ambitious goal for a series that has always had a more niche audience compared to Call of Duty.
“Obviously, Battlefield has never achieved those numbers before,” one EA employee told me. “It’s important to understand that over about that same period, 2042 has only gotten 22 million,” another said. Even 2016’s Battlefield 1—the most successful game in the franchise by numbers—had achieved “maybe 30 million plus.”
EA’s Hopes Rest on the Free-to-Play Battle Royale Mode
EA’s hope lies in the free-to-play Battle Royale mode, which seems to be at the core of Battlefield 6. Developers who spoke with the outlet said that “very few people” believe 100 million is a realistic goal.
Sources also claim that EA is convinced there is such a huge demand for first-person shooters that it won’t really have to compete with other games and will naturally attract the player base it needs.
In related news, Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson says the company ‘feels very good’ about the Battlefield 6 launch, with a clearer path following the delay of GTA 6.
