It's been nearly 10 years since we've had a truly beloved Battlefield game with 2016's Battlefield 1, as 2018's Battlefield V was met with a very mixed reception and 2021's Battlefield 2042 was highly contentious due to major gameplay changes to the series' core.
With Battlefield 6, however, Electronic Arts and developer DICE are looking to change that — and all signs point to a massive success in that endeavor. Following an incredible multiplayer reveal in late July, it ran two explosively popular Open Beta weekends in August that shattered a Call of Duty player count record and drove a tidal wave of excitement for Battlefield 6's October 10 release date and launch times.
Now, the game's arrival is only days away, and ahead of that launch, the Battlefield team has shared some interesting insights from Open Beta and closed Battlefield Labs testing along with tweaks changes it's making to Battlefield 6 for its release. Most of these are relatively minor (though still worth looking through), though there's one big decision from the developers that's getting a lot of attention. And it's not the good kind.
The decision in question is the choice to stick with Open Weapons — a setting that allows every infantry soldier class to use every type of weapon — over Closed Weapons that limit the firearm types available to each class (only Recon players can use sniper rifles, for example).
Many in the community have been vocal about their strong preference for Closed Weapons, arguing that with Open Weapons, the differences between classes don't feel meaningful enough, and that certain class/weapon combinations are too difficult to deal with through counterplay.
DICE's justification for this decision is that during the Open Beta, most players spent the majority of their time in Open Weapons playlists, signaling to the Battlefield team that it's the preferred gameplay structure of the two options.
"Lastly, another key insight from the Open Beta was that the vast majority of players, after trying both playlist types, chose to stick with Open Weapons," DICE explained. "This reinforces our belief that Open Weapons is the right path forward for Battlefield 6."
But as many players have pointed out, there are a few big problems with that argument — the main one being that during the Open Beta weekends, Closed Weapons playlists were tucked off to the side in Battlefield 6's menus, hard to find at a glance, while Open Weapons ones were placed front and center.
While not having Closed Weapons is far from a dealbreaker for me personally, I do believe it's more conducive to the Battlefield experience fans have come to know and love over the years, as it promotes the teamwork and coordination that drives the franchise's large-scale cinematic battles.
Another notable issue with that reasoning is that there was an Open Weapons playlist for every game mode in the beta, but Closed Weapons ones were only run with a portion of Battlefield 6's game types. If you wanted to play everything the playtests had to offer, you had to stick to Open Weapons.
"The closed weapon mode was clearly placed in a confusing manner," argued one fan. "How can they claim they're right when it's not even a fair comparison between open and closed weapons? Especially since we were being steered toward choosing open weapons."
While not having Closed Weapons is far from a dealbreaker for me personally, I do believe it's more conducive to the Battlefield experience fans have come to know and love over the years, as it promotes the teamwork and coordination that drives the franchise's large-scale cinematic battles. I also agree that the way Closed Weapons was tested in the beta was far from fair, given how hidden away and content restricted it was.
A silver lining, though, is that Battlefield 6 will at least offer official Closed Weapons playlists in the full experience for those that prefer them over the new Open Weapons format.
"At the same time, we recognize that some players prefer the Closed Weapons experience. To support them, official Closed Weapons playlists will be available at launch," DICE confirmed. "Additionally, Closed Weapons mutators will remain part of the Portal toolset, so players can create and share their own custom experiences."
A silver lining, though, is that Battlefield 6 will at least offer official Closed Weapons playlists in the full experience for those that prefer them over the new Open Weapons format.
Another bright spot in the post was an acknowledgement of requests for missing features in Battlefield 6 that were present in previous titles, such as naval vehicles, the iconic nimble "Little Bird" attack chopper, and Platoons — Battlefield's version of clans, essentially.
"Separately, requests for naval warfare have not gone unnoticed, nor have the calls for a certain fan-favorite little helicopter, platoons, and more. We appreciate all of your suggestions, and want you to know we’re listening," the developers said. "With Season 1 and our roadmap ahead, we’re excited to continue to build a Battlefield that reflects what players want."
The final major piece of news was the reveal of Battlefield 6's launch playlist offerings, with DICE promising single-mode matchmaking for Conquest and Breakthrough, close-quarters combat-focused playlists, and larger All-Out Warfare experiences in addition to the aforementioned Closed Weapons options.
Ultimately, it's frustrating that Closed Weapons are taking a backseat to Open Weapons despite the fact they were never really tested with equal footing, but I'm still absolutely stoked to jump into Battlefield 6 later this week. Notably, you can preorder it on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PS5 for $69.99.
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