Battlefield 6 launched late last year with a lot of momentum and became the best-selling game of 2025. But since then, it has struggled as players continue to demand bigger maps, new features, and quality-of-life improvements. And while I can’t guarantee that EA’s plans for BF6 this year will satisfy everyone, it does seem like the military shooter is in for a damn good year, with the devs committing to adding seven new maps, platoons, a server browser, and more between now and the end of 2026.
Earlier this week, EA and Battlefield Studios invited Kotaku and other outlets and creators to a preview of what to expect in BF6‘s upcoming third and fourth seasons (and even a tease of what to expect in season five), and it is a lot more than I expected. So let me break it all down.
Season 3 – BF6 adds two classic maps and solo battle royale
During the event, EA announced the second map coming to Battlefield 6‘s next season, which starts in May. It’s another classic from the franchise’s history. Cairo Bazaar will arrive in the second half of season three and is a reimagined spin on Battlefield 3‘s beloved Grand Bazaar. This version of the map is set in Cairo and will feature improved visuals and layout changes intended to create “higher intensity encounters.”
Like the original version of Bazaar, Cairo Bazaar isn’t a massive map, though it will feature some smaller vehicles. Instead, it’s a smaller to medium-sized map focused mainly on infantry. EA made it clear that while it has plans to add bigger maps to BF6 through 2026 and beyond, it still wants to add smaller maps that can offer different experiences. I think this is fine, as Battlefield has always had smaller maps and some of them, like Bazaar and OpMetro, have become fan favorites.
The problem BF6 had at launch and arguably still has is that EA included too many smaller maps and not enough epic battlegrounds. This is something the devs admitted during the event, saying that they had been “slightly overindexing in the smaller/medium-sized maps” and hope to improve the balance moving forward.
To help with that, EA is also adding the (previously announced) Railway to Golmud, which is a reimagined version of BF4‘s Golmud Railway. According to EA, this version is set in Tajikistan sometime after the events of the campaign. Like with Cairo Bazaar, EA has made some tweaks to the layout to offer more areas for close-quarters combat. Importantly, when Golmud arrives at the start of season three, it will be the largest map in Battlefield 6.
Also arriving in BF6‘s third season is a solo queue option for the game’s battle royale mode, RedSec. Players have wanted this since launch, and it’s finally arriving next season alongside a ranked mode for battle royale quad queue. EA says this is the “first step in bringing Ranked Play” to the shooter. Beyond what was shown, it was confirmed that new weapons and game modes would be included in season three, as well as leaderboards for stat nerds.
Season 4 – Naval warfare, Wake Island, and one of Battlefield’s biggest maps yet
EA also pulled back the curtain on what’s coming after season three. In July, Battlefield 6 season four kicks off, and this season is themed around naval warfare. And you can’t do naval warfare in Battlefield without adding the franchise’s classic Wake Island. This is a map that has been featured in nearly every installment of Battlefield and dates back to the OG game. It finally makes its way into Battlefield 6 at the launch of season four.
To make Wake Island work, EA is adding a lot of naval warfare gameplay elements, including dynamic waves and new water-based vehicles. Perhaps the most exciting feature coming in season four is working aircraft carriers, a feature seen in past versions of Wake Island. EA confirmed during the event that players will take off from the flight decks of the carriers, which sounds rad. I also can’t wait to watch people, myself included, screw up the launch somehow and crash before even getting into the sky. There will also be new naval-based challenges and rewards added this season, too.
Later in season four, EA will add a totally new map: Tsuru Reef. We didn’t see or hear much about it, but it is set in the Pacific and will be a massive naval warfare battleground. EA is claiming this will be much bigger than Mirak Valley or the upcoming Golmud Railway. That will make it the biggest map in the game by a wide margin and likely one of the biggest in the franchise’s history. Oh, and EA is also adding a spectator mode to BF6 during this season.
Server browser and platoons coming this year, and a season 5 tease
But wait, that’s not all! During the preview event, EA shared a small hint of what to expect in season five. They showed off an image of a rainy city and hinted that this was a tease of one of the new maps arriving in the fall with season five. Intriguing. The BF devs also promised to add three new maps in season five, giving fans an extra map as a holiday treat. That means, assuming EA sticks with its plans and roadmap, that it will add seven new maps to BF6 between now and the end of the year.
That’s on top of two maps already released this year as part of season two. Nine maps in a year is a lot of content, and many of these seem to be big playgrounds that will hopefully provide BF sickos with that all-out warfare they crave so much. Plus, Battlefield Studios is planning to rework two of BF6‘s worst maps, Blackwell Fields and New Sobek City, to make them less bad.
EA also listed off a number of features and quality-of-life changes coming to Battlefield 6 that don’t have hard release dates yet, but are planned to be added sometime in 2026.
- Proximity chat
- Persistent server browsers
- Platoons to help make it easier for squads to group up
- Other unspecified tweaks to player progression and combat
2026 is shaping up to be a big year for Battlefield 6. This is a lot of free content and features, and it makes me excited to hop back into Battlefield 6 after a few months away. The game’s second season has felt a bit stagnant to me, and I’ve not played it as much as season one. But adding Wake Island, Bazaar, platoons, and naval warfare, as well as fixing up some bad maps, has me hopeful for Battlefield 6‘s future.
When the devs were asked about SteamDB player count numbers dropping, they dodged the question and instead said the focus was on making the game bigger and better, with the implication being that doing so would help bring people back and increase player population. I don’t think BF6 will ever be able to bring everyone back who has left. That said, EA’s plans for the rest of 2026 have a good chance of recapturing the momentum the game had at launch. But mostly, I’m just excited to play more Battlefield 6 with my buddies this year on Wake Island.
