From Controversy to Comeback? Battlefield 6 Aims to Rebuild Player Trust

EA’s Biggest Battlefield Yet

Battlefield 6 will be EA’s most ambitious entry in the Battlefield franchise to date, developed by Battlefield Studios – which includes the talents of DICE, Criterion, Motive and Ripple Effect, it’s safe to say that EA has a lot riding on this one as big budget games go.

For more context on how we got here, see Battlefield’s Final Stand.

A Last Chance to “Keep the Faith”

Many see this as EA’s last chance at ‘keeping the faith’ from the Battlefield community eager to see a long overdue return to form that has been absent for almost a decade.

Momentum is growing steadily, and for all intents and purposes the outlook appears optimistic with a positive reaction to recent reveals, gameplay insights and content creator activity.

Community Skepticism & #NoPreOrderBattlefield6

However, a wave of skepticism has also rippled through the gaming community on social media platforms such as Tik Tok, X and Reddit utilising the hashtag #NoPreOrderBattlefield6 in a bid to encourage gamers not to pre order. This initiative stems from the bitter disappointment many players felt after pre-ordering the likes of Battlefield V, Battlefield 2042 as well as other big budget titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Anthem and WatchDogs, games that were plagued by bugs, stripped-down content, and gameplay that failed to meet expectations from the initial promise in pre launch marketing campaigns.

Battlefield 6 Beta Gameplay in 32:9

Early Signals Say Otherwise

Thankfully, the social media call to arms to dissuade gamers from pre-ordering battlefield 6 isn’t working. On PC Battlefield 6 has already surpassed 1.5Million wishlists on Steam which is a positive indicator. For the closed Beta which went live today Twitch views were sitting at 640,000 and the queue for accessing the closed beta was at 300,000. Content creator Shroud had 64,000 watching his livestream in the closed beta at the time of writing.

JackFrags has seen a combined 7.2M views across half a dozen of his recent Battlefield 6 videos on YouTube as well. I’m thankful the anti-preorder sentiment isn’t working and I say this because we all need Battlefield 6 to succeed, not fail, we need to be able to get behind a publisher and be able to believe that what has gone before is not setting the benchmark for lacklustre or false hope, that the lessons of ignoring community and not implementing feedback and content have not gone unheard. While videogames are considered a higher expense where hobbies are concerned, I also fully appreciate the fear of being burned by empty promises come launch, but now is a time when games need more support than they need more doubt.

We’ve witnessed first hand the huge backlash from the gaming community where product quality and content was sorely lacking from products where it should have been from launch, prime examples being Cyberpunk 2077, No Man’s Sky and The Day Before, the latter seeing the spectacular imploding of the games dev studio after angry gamers demanded to know why the game fell so far short of what it promised pre launch.

Battlefield 6 Gameplay — Courtesy of JackFrags

The Bigger Picture: Cost & Pressure

With a tough economy, higher taxes and high cost of living, both consumers and game makers are feeling the financial pressure.

Consumers are demanding better value for money, higher quality from games that are costing $70 a pop and game makers are equally looking for the most cost effective ways to make memorable game experiences they can sell over and over again. At no other time in our lifetimes are games under more scrutiny and pressure than ever before, the attention economy is constantly eroding game longevity as players divide their time spent on TikTok, Netflix, Spotify or other content driven channels demanding more of their free time.

Coming up in Part 2

Why players still care (nostalgia and Frostbite), the trust question, Vince Zampella’s influence, and the key reasons for confidence ahead of launch.