While EA has been busy with its playtests for the next iteration of Battlefield, the company has seemingly been getting a great response from playtesters. During a recent call about the company’s Q4 2025 earnings, CEO Andrew Wilson (as caught by GamesRadar) spoke about how the new initiative with inviting players to help playtest the next Battlefield has been “the biggest playtesting initiative in franchise history.” During the call, Wilson also admitted that the previous entry in the franchise, Battlefield 2042, was poorly received.
During the Q&A part of the earnings call, Wilson spoke about Battlefield being a massive franchise for EA, and takes responsibility for the development team behind Battlefield 2042 not working as closely with the community as it should have.
“We’ve always worked closely with the community, but we haven’t always worked as closely as we should have,” said Wilson. “We haven’t always really worked to help them understand the things that we’re building and for us to understand the things that they really want out of a Battlefield. We know that when we get it right, Battlefield is a giant franchise and often the biggest shooter in the year.”
When talking about the next Battlefield game, Wilson mentioned that, across North America and Europe, more than 600,000 players had taken part in the playtests so far. He added that the total play time measured up to thousands of hours of gameplay among all players. “The response has far exceeded expectations,” he said, adding that EA plans on bringing in more players into the playtests because of “this incredible global demand.” While more players from North America and Europe will be brought in, there are also plans to open up the playtests for Battlefield 6 in Asia.
EA had kicked off its playtests for what it has dubbed Battlefield Labs back in March. At the time, emails had been sent out to players that had signed up for the playtest, describing the process as being done in a “closed test environment.” Players part of the playtest have also been barred from recording and gameplay footage or taking screenshots.
March also saw the playtest focus on the core gunplay and movement for the next Battlefield title. In a lengthy post detailing plans for the Battlefield Labs playtest, EA spoke about wanting to nail the gameplay when it came to in-depth movement options as well as precise weapon feedback to make gunfights feel more dynamic and fun.
“We’re designing the combat experience to ensure players of all skill levels can enjoy our gunplay and movement systems,” said the company in its post. “Our goal is to offer gameplay that rewards skill with precise weapon feedback and movement options for veterans, while providing an intuitive experience for new players to learn and enjoy.”
While EA hasn’t yet revealed precise details about when Battlefield 6 will be released, the company revealed in the same earnings call that the title will be properly unveiled some time during the summer. Considering franchise tradition, the next Battlefield game will likely be coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
