With all of the hype going into the upcoming October 10 release of Battlefield 6 on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, analysts have predicted that the title will do incredibly well for EA and Battlefield Studios. According to The Game Business’s Christopher Dring, a number of data suppliers, including Circana, Ampere and Press Engine, have noted that the game is poised to see a massive launch, but that it isn’t likely to beat Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 when taking historical data into account.
Ampere, for instance, believes that Battlefield 6 will manage to sell 5 million copies across all platforms in its first week alone. This belief comes from the fact that the open beta was estimated to have gotten 22 million players. The estimate about this from Newzoo is a bit higher, with 25 million players. The firm compared the peak active player numbers for the Battlefield 6 beta with the Battlefield 2042 beta. While the former was able to hit 10.4 million concurrent players, the latter was able to hit 5.1 million at its highest.
Ampere also noted some player behaviour figures, noting that some Call of Duty players that spent time with the Battlefield 6 beta didn’t eventually return to their original game. These figures have been varied by platform, with Xbox seeing 29 percent not returning to Call of Duty, and PlayStation seeing 24 percent. PC saw the biggest percentage of these, with 48 percent Steam players not going back to Call of Duty after playing the Battlefield 6 beta. The firm has also estimated that there have been 1.7 million pre-orders for Battlefield 6 on Steam.
It is worth noting that comparing the audience interest in Battlefield 6 with Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 might be quite difficult. While both franchises have historically been military shooters, they both tend to offer radically different styles of gameplay. Call of Duty is known for its fast-paced multiplayer modes that tend to focus on lower player counts, often pitting teams of six against each other for various objectives. Battlefield, on the other hand, is known for focusing more on large-scale battles that also often includes vehicles. It also doesn’t help that there isn’t really much data for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 when it comes to things like pre-orders.
Ultimately, both Battlefield 6 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 will end up doing quite well for their respective companies. As opposed to what former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra said back in August, Battlefield 6’s release won’t end up with a “boot stomp” for this year’s Call of Duty, since both titles are likely to attract different audiences altogether.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is also slated to come out a full month after the release of Battlefield 6. The shooter is being made for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, and will be out on November 14. In the meantime, check out how how Treyarch and Raven Software aim to take on cheaters and hackers in the upcoming beta for Black Ops 7.
