Battlefield 6‘s concurrent player base has continued to drop following the holiday break, dipping below 100,000 players and keeping a concerning trend alive for the once popular online shooter. Seemingly building off of the slow revival of Battlefield 2042, EA revealed Battlefield 6 to an excited fanbase as the series seemingly returned to its gritty and realistic roots. However, that positivity has seemingly been on the downswing in recent weeks.
Battlefield 6 had a tremendously successful launch for EA, helped by strong word of mouth after a well-received beta test a few months prior, and a seeming return to form with major destruction, a single-player campaign, and a grittier, more realistic look than some of its contemporary shooter games. Those factors helped Battlefield 6 reach massive heights on Steam, surpassing 700,000 concurrent players on day one and elevating the game into becoming the best-selling shooter game for 2025. However, things have slowly been turning in the wrong direction as of late, with numerous controversies and player frustrations seemingly giving way to a player base that appears to be leaving in droves.
What to Expect From Battlefield 6 in 2026
Battlefield 6’s first Season may have been a mixed bag, but it’s the game’s 2026 support that will truly determine its fate as a live-service title.
Battlefield 6 Drops Below 100k Players
According to SteamDB, Battlefield 6 has now seen its 24-hour player peak dip below 100,000 players, which is way down from its all-time high of 747,440 at launch. The live-service title has continued to stumble following its impressive launch and the numbers currently indicate that things are quickly becoming dire. It’s worth noting that this doesn’t mean Battlefield 6 is dying or, in any way, dead, as the numbers are still solid, but it is certainly a far cry from what the game was achieving a few months ago.
Naturally, this data is strictly for the Steam version of Battlefield 6, so it’s entirely possible that the player base on Xbox and PlayStation consoles is higher or, at the very least, remains stable. However, there has seemingly been no shortage of player frustrations and other issues that have cropped up as of late, so it’s reasonable to assume that overall player numbers on consoles have also dipped somewhat. Fans have recently accused Battlefield 6 of ripping off Call of Duty with one of its skins, highlighted potential AI-generated content, and have largely been left frustrated by the short time frame to complete the BF Pro bonus path.
Following the honeymoon period of Battlefield 6‘s launch window, Season 1 appears to be where things really started to turn, starting with the launch of Battlefield‘s RedSec battle royale mode, which didn’t really hit players in the way that EA was likely hoping. Players continued to request bigger maps, bugs continued to crop up following various updates, and the current Winter Offensive update has caused numerous new gameplay issues for players. Shockingly, it’s also starting to look like Call of Duty is slowly making a comeback against Battlefield 6, the former best-selling shooter game of 2025.
Part of that player dip could possibly be attributed to Embark Studios, as ARC Raiders continues to showcase impressive player numbers. While extraction shooters have typically been a tough genre to appeal to a broader audience, ARC Raiders has seemingly broken through to not only achieve impressive player numbers, but retain 91% of them (on Steam at least) in the months that followed after launch. That’s in stark contrast to Battlefield 6, which has lost roughly 85% of its Steam population since October. With Embark looking to continue building on its success, it’ll be interesting to see how EA attempts to win players back in 2026.
- Released
-
October 10, 2025
- ESRB
-
Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, In-App Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
-
Battlefield Studios
