Battlefield 6 sets franchise record with biggest launch in series history

[Shawn Knight]

What just happened? Battlefield 6 is off to a red hot start, smashing multiple franchise records in the days following its October 10 launch. According to publisher Electronic Arts, the latest entry in the Battlefield series has sold more than seven million copies in the first three days of launch, making it the fastest game in the franchise to hit that mark.

During the three-day launch weekend, gamers played over 172 million matches online and racked up more than 15 million hours watched on streaming services.

The game's early success isn't much of a surprise considering how well the beta performed over the summer. At its peak, the Battlefield 6 beta hosted 326,000 players, making it Steam's 39th most-played game ever. A week before launch, pre-orders on Steam had already hit 1.7 million – and that's only accounting for a single platform. In addition to PC, the game is available on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series. On launch day, Steam registered nearly 750,000 concurrent players.

EA, which was recently sold to a consortium of investors for $55 billion, had a lot riding on Battlefield 6. The last game in the franchise, Battlefield 2042, fell short of sales expectations and was generally considered to be one of the weaker entries in the series. Judging by early sales figures, it seems the developers righted a lot of wrongs this time around. With GTA VI now slated for 2026, Battlefield 6 could very well end up being one of the biggest gaming and entertainment launches of the year.

Related reading: Battlefield 6 Benchmark: 33 CPUs Tested in Multiplayer

EA added that the first season of new content is less than two weeks away. Season 1, out on October 28, will include a new map named Blackwell Fields as well as a new 4v4 mode. Two additional phases of Season 1 content are due out before the end of the year.

Battlefield 6 is available now across a range of platforms priced from $69.99 for the standard edition. There's also a $99.99 Phantom Edition that includes several in-game perks and a token to redeem for a Season 1 package.

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Battlefield 6 sets franchise record with biggest launch in series history

 

[J95qRP7]

While I've enjoyed the game, as it is the first I've played since BF3, I believe this is still a monumental failure by the metrics EA's set? https://www.techspot.com/news/108563-ea-sets-ambitious-100-million-player-goal-battlefield.html

 

[Billybobjoey]

7 million is pretty darn impressive when it's current gen console exclusive. Lots of people still on PS4/XB1 yet. I enjoyed the beta, I'll probably pick it up on sale.

 

[NumberNine]

Not bad for what has become a Call of Duty chaser.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

7 million is pretty darn impressive when it's current gen console exclusive. Lots of people still on PS4/XB1 yet. I enjoyed the beta, I'll probably pick it up on sale.

Did you just step out of a time portal?

The PS5 has been out for half a decade and has sold over 80 million consoles. There's another 33 million Xbox series consoles out there.

7 million across both those platforms and PC isn't some monumental achievement.

 

[lonetac]

Good game is good. CoD has been **** for years. so has BF. Its a nice return to form.

I was a big bf2 player at one point, that was the last great bf game to me, until now.

Thats a pretty big achievement to have a game getting praised with that many folks playing and giving it good reviews now days. Its very well optimized too. Its hard to not get 100 fps, and thats without frame gen to boot!

 

[Billybobjoey]

Did you just step out of a time portal?

The PS5 has been out for half a decade and has sold over 80 million consoles. There's another 33 million Xbox series consoles out there.

7 million across both those platforms and PC isn't some monumental achievement.

Look at the sales numbers of other games from this year and yes, it does look pretty good.

Borderlands 4: 2.5 Million in ~2 weeks
Doom: The Dark Ages: Estimated to be less than a million in a month
Mafia: The Old Country: 1.2 Million in about a month
AC Shadows: 5 Million "Players" (so less than that in actual sales) in about 4 months

All of these are multiplatform games available only on the current gen consoles and PC. BF6 blew them out of the water in a week.

 

[Thatsdisgusting]

Counter Call of Battlefield Strike actually won hearts and minds

 

[ScottSoapbox]

Hopefully some studio execs notice the difference between sales for a game launched with few bugs and good frame rates on mainstream cards, and those failing in one or both of those areas.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Look at the sales numbers of other games from this year and yes, it does look pretty good.

Borderlands 4: 2.5 Million in ~2 weeks
Doom: The Dark Ages: Estimated to be less than a million in a month
Mafia: The Old Country: 1.2 Million in about a month
AC Shadows: 5 Million "Players" (so less than that in actual sales) in about 4 months

All of these are multiplatform games available only on the current gen consoles and PC. BF6 blew them out of the water in a week.

It still doesnt given your original argument, which was "pretty darn impressive when it's current gen console exclusive.". We have seen games sell far more on smaller userbases before. The OG black ops sold over 25 million copies during a major recession, when the best selling platform, the X360, only had roughly 25.4 million consoles in the wild and the PC market was a mere fraction of its current size.

Now, for your *new* argument, yes, Battlefield 6 is selling a lot better than the stinkers the AAA industry has been dumping the last few years. We'll see if sales continue and it can match the rather depressing "best sellers of 2024" list.

 

[lonetac]

It still doesnt given your original argument, which was "pretty darn impressive when it's current gen console exclusive.". We have seen games sell far more on smaller userbases before. The OG black ops sold over 25 million copies during a major recession, when the best selling platform, the X360, only had roughly 25.4 million consoles in the wild and the PC market was a mere fraction of its current size.

Now, for your *new* argument, yes, Battlefield 6 is selling a lot better than the stinkers the AAA industry has been dumping the last few years. We'll see if sales continue and it can match the rather depressing "best sellers of 2024" list.

Its the largest BF release in franchise history. Trying to downplay it makes you seem just disingenuous and arguing for the sake of arguing.

If its the largest release in series history, that is pretty special. Its universally liked and praised for its polish and performance. Just stop.

 

[AnilD]

Turns out all Battlefield had to do was ship a working Battlefield and suddenly people remember why the series used to be a holiday monster. Healing from trauma is real once the menus function and the guns hit what you shoot at.

 

[amghwk]

All the Battlefield series and Call of Duty series are nowadays seems to be honed for the new gen kids. I lost interest after CoD 2.

Anyways, kids, enjoy. Our old timers's period is over.

Back to my old DOS games using Dosbox and 86Box, I guess.

Love playing RPGs from SSI, Strategy and Simulations games from Microprose and Adventure from Sierra. And other classic companies. My time is over I guess.