The next big Battlefield game is finally in our hands with the newly released Battlefield 6, and for the most part, it's got everything most fans of Electronic Arts' (EA) legendary, long-running multiplayer FPS series want: the franchise's traditional classes, plenty of weapons and gadgets to earn, powerful vehicles and aircraft, and a varied selection of maps and modes to use all of it on.
One of the things that the title lacks, however, is naval warfare. Currently, none of Battlefield 6's maps have any kind of naval or amphibious combat vehicles on them, nor do they have enough water to support the use of boats in the first place.
This is in stark contrast to past titles like Battlefield 4, Battlefield 1, and Battlefield V, all of which feature combat-capable ships, boats, and/or landing craft, along with maps to use them on. Battlefield 4 in particular featured a few maps with aircraft carriers present that teams could fight and deploy from, along with deadly attack boats equipped with autocannons and guided missiles.
It's unfortunate, then, that Battlefield 6 (like Battlefield 2042 before it) doesn't have any of this. However, that doesn't mean that naval warfare won't come to the game in the future — and as it happens, a new report indicates that naval vehicles are already in development.
That report comes from Tom Henderson of Insider Gaming, who detailed datamined files found within Battlefield 6 itself that contained two eye-catching strings of code:
Game/GlacierMP/Kits/Vehicle_Neutral_Boat_JetSki
Game/GlacierMP/Kits/Vehicle_Neutral_Boat_RHIB
Glacier was EA and Battlefield Studios' codename for Battlefield 6 while it was still going through closed Battlefield Labs testing and hadn't been revealed publicly yet. MP, meanwhile, is an abbreviation for multiplayer, with RHIB standing for "rigid-hulled inflatable boat." Jet ski is self explanatory.
The implication, of course, is clear — that being that the developers are working on creating these two types of boats for Battlefield 6's multiplayer, with others to potentially get added to the experience as well.
The implication, of course, is clear — that being that the developers are working on creating these two types of boats for Battlefield 6's multiplayer, with others to potentially get added to the experience as well.
Notably, this datamined code has been found less than two weeks after the Battlefield team acknowledged the desire for naval warfare in the days leading up to the FPS' launch. "Requests for naval warfare have not gone unnoticed ... With Season 1 and our roadmap ahead, we’re excited to continue to build a Battlefield that reflects what players want." the developers wrote.
That begs the question of when we'll actually see naval warfare come to Battlefield 6, and ultimately, there's no way to know for sure right now. What is clear is that it won't be during Season 1, which runs from October 28 through December; as the official roadmap above shows, seacraft aren't listed as new vehicles, and none of the season's three maps look to be naval-centric, either.
With that said, though, the fact that files for boats have been found in the current build of Battlefield 6 does suggest that the developers are actively working on them, which could mean we'll see naval warfare added in Season 2 or Season 3 of the game's post-launch content releases.
The fact that files for boats have been found in the current build of Battlefield 6 does suggest that the developers are actively working on them, which could mean we'll see naval warfare added in Season 2 or Season 3.
That would give fans of the shooter something big to look forward to in 2026; I'm certainly excited by the prospect, as I always greatly enjoyed steering around RHIBs to ferry teammates around or blowing tanks and helicopters to smithereens with offshore missiles in an attack boat in Battlefield 4.
It would also add in one of the only things that Battlefield 6 is missing right now, and in my eyes, that would bring it up to par with Battlefield 4 and 1 — making it one of the best games in the series ever released.
All in all, I hope naval warfare ends up coming sooner rather than later. Until it does, I'll continue having a blast in Battlefield 6 as it is, now available across Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PS5 for $69.99. Do note that you can get it on Xbox for just $61.19 at Loaded (formerly CDKeys) thanks to an awesome deal.
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