Battlefield 6 Is Already Doing Huge Numbers On Steam

Battlefield 6 is clearly off to the races if its domination of the Steam charts are any indication. Over the course of its launch weekend, EA’s latest and greatest multiplayer shooter put up remarkable numbers, cresting over 740,000 concurrent players regularly. And while the game is still pretty fresh, it has impressively retained a great deal of players at all times, rarely dropping below about 200,000 active players at any given point. Battlefield 6 achieved the highest-ever numbers for an EA game on Steam, toppling a record set by the free-to-play game Apex Legends.

On Steam at least, Battlefield 6 boasts the most concurrent players of any entry in the franchise, and it has ranked among Steam’s most played games the entirety of the weekend. It is also the #1 top seller on Steam, which is especially prominent given the fact that the base game is going for a whopping $70. I think it’s safe to say that all that momentum Battlefield 6 has been enjoying has turned it into the series’ first bonafide hit in a long while.

Despite the momentum that Battlefield 6 had going into the weekend after its launch–a holiday weekend, no less–it wasn’t able to beat out its peak of 747,000+ players, which it achieved right at release on October 10. Still, Battlefield 6’s early Steam numbers are good enough to beat out Call of Duty’s all-time high on the platform, which is currently sitting at about 492,000, as well as other major shooters on the market like Apex Legends and Helldivers 2.

Battlefield 6’s outstanding start isn’t without precedent. A slew of leaks from the Battlefield Labs program, which invited select players to test the game out early and provide meaningful feedback, detailed many features that built up anticipation. Anticipation which eventually exploded around the game’s full reveal earlier this summer, where the developers at Battlefield Studios teased inspiration from Battlefield’s 3 and 4 (the darlings of the franchise) as well as a back-to-basics approach after Battlefield 2042’s tumultuous launch.

An open beta in August seemed to crystallize the fervor around Battlefield 6, drawing in more than 500,000 players on Steam alone and proving to many that the franchise was in rare form after a series of misses. GameSpot’s review-in-progress confirms as much, calling it “a return to form for the long-running series, delivering chaotic, large-scale multiplayer that’s as familiar as it is uproariously fun.”

I guess all that remains to be seen now is whether Battlefield 6 can maintain this good buzz and momentum moving forward, especially as competitors like Black Ops 7 inch closer to release.