A huge number of players got the chance to participate in Battlefield 6’s Open Beta across two weekends earlier this month and experience the intense shooter for themselves. Checkpoint Gaming also had a dedicated hands-on session, and we really enjoyed what we saw. EA gathered lots of data and feedback from players to prepare for the global release on October 10.
We got the chance to sit down with Christian Buhl, Studio Technical Director from Ripple Effect (part of Battlefield Studios), with the main goal to find out about what the team learned from the Open Beta, the focus on a successful PC launch, and other technical questions about Battlefield 6.
First, we talked about the most important takeaways from the Battlefield 6 Open Beta. Christian mentioned stability, performance, and service availability as the top priorities. There were lots of internal testing and playtesting sessions from Battlefield Labs before the beta to ensure it worked well. There were problems, such as crashes, that the team didn’t know about, but everyone was happy with the beta’s performance.
“…we listen to that feedback and make sure the bigger map experiences are what people are looking for.”
When talking about how the team sorted through feedback from the beta, such as map sizes. Christian replied that they gather as much feedback as they can, recognising that some of it is going to be contradictory. “We take the feedback and, first of all, what is the game we are trying to build? If somebody wants this game to be something that it’s not, then obviously, we’re not going to listen to that feedback.”
“For example, one of the big pieces of feedback we got was that the maps were too small. Well, we have bigger maps ready, right? We did say, ‘Maybe we should’ve put bigger maps in, ‘ but we have bigger maps available. Those are going to be coming soon, and we listen to that feedback and make sure the bigger map experiences are what people are looking for.”
Christian confirmed that there were no other beta plans between now and launch, but Battlefield Labs testing would continue for playtesting. There would be Labs events between the end of the beta and launch to test aspects such as bigger maps, and these events would also incorporate the feedback, like rebalancing the power of the shotgun, which, even in our hands-on preview, we called out as feeling a little OP.
When discussing how Battlefield Labs can be useful for feedback and steering them through development, Christian said, “I say this without hyperbole, it’s one of the most important things we’ve done on Battlefield 6, full stop. We learned a lot of lessons from Battlefield 2042, and one of those lessons we learned was that we have to kind of get the game in front of players earlier, get feedback earlier, and collect data/information on crashes.”
“One of the things that we did was we pushed to get BF Labs in front of players before the game was (in) alpha… when people played that, they saw hitboxes, in some cases, we hadn’t finished building our levels, they saw bugs and crashes that we knew were in the game. We put it in front of players and said, ‘Hey, look past some of these things, but give us feedback on the game. By the way, we’re collecting a ton of data on crashes, performance, all those things.'”
“And also, we’re learning how to operate the game, making sure our services run, making sure we optimise matchmaking. Obviously, there are still issues we had in open beta, so it’s not perfect, but it’s one of the most important things we did. From a technical perspective, to allow us to get a stable and performing game… every BF Labs event we’ve had, we’ve had massive analysis of the maps, weapons, and modes, crash rates, the performance, we take the technical data and action on that.”
When discussing the Frostbite engine used in the Battlefield series, we talked about a social post that mentioned how Unreal Engine wouldn’t be viable. Christian responded that the Frostbite engine was designed for Battlefield and there would be advantages for sticking with it. Frostbite is built to support lots of players and large maps while handling environmental destruction effects.
“Battlefield 6 brings the best PC experience in the history of the franchise…”
Porting Battlefield 6 to the Xbox Series S was another topic that was brought up since it was similar to a low-spec PC. Christian mentioned the work that went into making the game perform well on the console despite different performance targets, with the biggest challenge being ensuring the game didn’t exceed the console’s available memory, but there weren’t really other challenges beyond that.
A new blog post also went live this morning, detailing what to expect from the PC launch. It states that “Battlefield 6 brings the best PC experience in the history of the franchise, offering the widest array of features and customization options ever supported.” In addition, it mentions that PC players will benefit from 4K graphics and an uncapped frame rate, as they aim to create “one of the most fluid, high-performance First Person Shooter experiences on the market.”
They go into even further detail about Javelin Anti-cheat, ultrawide monitor support and 600+ customization options, including HDR and HUD Scaling, Camera Settings and Streamer mode For the more technically minded, the blog post mentions that “With the launch of the official PC system requirements, Nvidia confirms Battlefield 6 will launch with support for DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation, DLSS Frame Generation, DLSS Super Resolution, DLAA, and NVIDIA Reflex. Using these technologies, all GeForce RTX gamers can accelerate and enhance their experience, making gameplay smoother and more responsive.”
When talking about plans for Battlefield 6 moving forward, Christian noted that the focus was on the more immediate future; right now, the technical team is focused on making sure the game performs well and is stable. There will be new features added as time goes on and other problems are addressed, but nothing specific is locked in.
From a technical perspective, Battlefield 6 looks amazing and includes lots of hard work behind the scenes. The open beta provided lots of information that we weren’t privy to, but the technical team is working hard based on what players said. Whether you play it on a PC or console, you should get a solid performance if you can meet the minimum specs. If you’d like to potentially test more, you can catch future Battlefield Labs events for different scenarios.
For more on Battlefield 6, you can check out our multiplayer hands-on preview and interview with Battlefield Studios.
Battlefield 6 launches October 10 for PC, Xbox Series X|S and PS5.
About the Author
Victor Tan
He/Him
Victor spends his time trying to help players out of tricky situations and give them the guidance they need to succeed. Outside of the video game world, you can find him training at the gym or doing simple improv activities.
