“Earlier phases of Battlefield Labs helped us gather fast, focused feedback on new ideas before they reached our live game,” wrote Battlefield Studios in its announcement. “We’re now evolving and building on that foundation on how we test together as a part of our commitment to deliver the biggest and most exciting Battlefield live service in franchise history.”

To kick things off, Battlefield Labs will offer selected players a chance to experience some of the new content making its way to Battlefield 6 before it hits official servers on December 9. The playtest will also revolve around fine tuning made to the game’s core combat, which includes fixes for a bug that made player footsteps not audible, refinements for hit registrations, and adjustments across the combat system. This first leg of Battlefield Labs will be available only on PC, and will be live on December 2 in three core regions: APAC from 8pm to 10pm JST, EU from 7pm to 9pm CET, and NA from 4pm to 6pm PST.

Battlefield Studios has also noted that Labs playtesters will not be allowed to share any details about their experiences thanks to an NDA. Those who have signed up will get an invitation to Battlefield Labs via email.

Future playtests for Battlefield Labs are planned with an eye towards more refinements made to Battlefield 6. Two main types of play will be available for these playtests: Planned Play Sessions that will revolve around testing of experimental updates, and quick, short-notice sessions that will focus on getting rapid insights on core gameplay changes.

The developers have also noted that future sessions of Battlefield Labs will start getting even more ambitious with the kinds of changes that will be tested. Some of the examples provided include changes to map layouts, pacing, and alternative team compositions like smaller player counts or vehicle-focused setups. Generally speaking, future sessions will also feature new maps and experiences, new modes and experimental rulesets, prototyped mechanics and systems, environmental changes, future seasonal content, and improvements to stability and performance.

The confirmation of these new set of playtests is great news for players, and continues Battlefield Studios’ commitments to keeping a line of communication with its player base open. An example of this could be seen just last week, with principal game designer Florian Le Bihan confirming that Battlefield 6 would be getting a full pass of its audio systems to ensure that it is working well, especially in light of players complaining about enemy footsteps and vehicles often being inaudible.

Battlefield 6 is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. The title has been going quite strong since its October release, and more recently might have even contributed to the poorer-than-typical performance of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 in the European markets.

Adjust Aim Settings

Battlefield 6 has a bunch of different settings across several categories, including aim sensitivity, which can completely change your kill/death ratio. The default aim sensitivity for infantry weapons is decent, but I found my accuracy improving after sliding it down five or so points. The goal here is to aim smoothly in every direction without jarring and erratic movements.

Another setting that helps is aim assist. Aim assist preference greatly varies between players, but for controllers, it’s helpful to compensate for the lack of precise mouse movement by turning up aim assist, at least a bit. Battlefield 6 lets players select classic aim assist settings from every BF game too, so if you’re familiar with Battlefield 1 or Battlefield 1943, those configurations are loosely translated. For those not keen on the slight slowdown that occurs when looking at enemies, consider lowering aim assist. Lowering aim assist and zoom snap is a nice compromise, though. On the visual end, consider turning off filters like film grain and reducing motion blur for clarity.

Use Quick-Turning

Console players know the pain of configuring ideal sensitivity settings for a controller. Unlike with a mouse, you’re either moving too fast for reliable aiming or too slow to perform rapid adjustments. The new quick look kind of solves this dilemma, allowing instant 180-degree rotation with the press of a single button—no sensitivity tweaks necessary. To achieve this, go to controller settings and find ‘flick look forward’ and ‘flick look backwards’ in the ‘movement’ section.

Play the Objective

Rather than constantly zeroing in on the closest opponent to kill in a match (that’s what Team Deathmatch is for), prioritize the objective, helpfully on the minimap and compass. This doesn’t always mean running directly to the contested zone, though; it may be beneficial to find a rooftop across the street to snipe opponents entrenched in the contested zone.

It’s also paramount to fill in Class gaps appropriately. Check the units your squad chose and help by selecting the appropriate Class.

Toggle Rate of Fire

This one isn’t explained well in-game, but it’s super helpful to know. You can change your ammo’s fire rate in real-time by aiming down sights and pressing down on the D-pad, as indicated by the bullet icon in the lower right. Some guns allow you to switch between single shots, burst fire, and full auto, as indicated by the one, two, and three bullet icons in the lower right. When not aiming down the sights, press down on the D-pad to toggle your flashlight and/or laser sight.

Spotting Enemy Units

Another important feature that might go unnoticed is spotting. You can actively mark and spot enemy units and vehicles by hovering your aiming reticle over them and pressing Q/L1. This allows you and all of your teammates to see the location of opponents on the minimap for a limited time. Spotting is a lifesaver in the midst of a smoke grenade attack because enemies will appear on the map and field, allowing your team to keep track of them in the haze. Spotting doesn’t just contribute to your team as a whole; it also adds to your own individual score, so use it often.

Control Your Shots

Avoid wildly spamming automatic rounds at opponents. Not only does the spray-and-pray strategy drain ammo, but it also greatly reduces accuracy and weapon stability while revealing your location. Practice shooting in smaller controlled bursts instead. One thing even seasoned Battlefield players have to contend with is recoil, but there are ways to overcome it. To counteract vertical recoil on most guns, feather your aiming slightly downward. For further stability, mount your weapon like a turret. You can mount guns that have a mount underbarrel attachment, but you need a ledge to do so. To mount, first aim down sights near a ledge or platform (or anything used for cover) and click R3. Just be careful, since it may leave you exposed to flankers. You can practice these techniques with any unlocked gun at the shooting range in the main menu or while customizing loadouts.

Cover is Your Best Friend

Speaking of cover, Battlefield has long been a cover-heavy FPS. Moving between cover is crucial to surviving firefights. Avoid lingering around open areas for too long. Look at the battlefield in terms of cover opportunities, moving (and sliding) from cover to cover instead of across open areas. And for the best results, sprint with a knife out to improve speed before a slide. To slide, quickly crouch immediately after a sprint. Cover is also great for leaning and shooting around corners.

Know Your Routes

Don’t always follow the most popular route into contested areas. Hiding in empty buildings and hidden alcoves can make for some sneaky kills from the shadows. If you’re a Recon unit, roosting on top of a building overlooking a popular skirmish route may turn the tide of a losing battle. However, if you’re a Support unit, you may want to limit your deviated route and stick close to where the mayhem is unfolding.

Know Your Role

This brings us to the four Classes.

Support: There’s a reason Support (or medics) stick close to teammates; they provide health and ammo. While any unit can patch up fallen comrades, support units do it faster and with much greater efficacy. Charge up your defibrillator gadget before resuscitating downed allies to revive them to full health in an instant. Oh, and don’t forget to drag them out of the line of fire as you’re healing them. Medics also have a resource package they can toss to teammates, which contains ammo and healing— press up on the D-pad to use it.

Engineer: Engineers are vehicular specialists. Stick close to manned vehicles to repair them with your gadget, or go on the offensive and destroy tanks with your missile launcher, land mine, and engineer-specific torch.

Recon: Recons are your dedicated sniper class, so clever positioning is key. Be on the lookout for elevated spots to pick opponents off. Recons also have the best spotting ability, enabling enemies to appear on maps and the HUD for much longer than other units. Again, to spot, simply press Q/L1 as you target a soldier or vehicle.

Assault: Finally, there is Assault. These frontline soldiers excel in close-quarters combat. Utilize your extra primary weapon (the shotgun is especially powerful). Make sure not to forget your Adrenaline Injector gadget to improve sprint speed, resist stun and flash, and even reduce explosives damage. The Assault Ladder can also be incredibly useful for accessing high ground much quicker.

In short: Assault thrives up close, Engineers dominate vehicles, Support keeps the team alive, and Recon controls the field from afar.

Reduce Detection With Weapon Attachments

Choosing attachments that hide in-world spotting and reduce detection while shooting is crucial. If you have a laser sight equipped, remember to toggle it off with down on the D-pad during matches. Laser sights improve hip-fire accuracy but are visible to soldiers unless toggled off. Flashlights can actually blind soldiers, but you want to toggle that off to avoid detection. Lastly, certain muzzle accessories show your location on the map when firing. Be sure to attach suppressors if you want a sneakier shooting experience.

Wear Headphones

Sound is keenly designed to give you an edge in battle. Beware of footsteps and shot directions, as the game utilizes directional audio more drastically than previous games. It may also be helpful to turn off the tinnitus effect in settings. That loud, stinging sound when getting hurt can disguise directional audio and other cues, even if it is indicative of fatal damage.

Calling for Aid

When downed in severely contested zones, measure the pros and cons of calling for help versus simply respawning. Sometimes, it’s quicker to just spawn back on a nearby teammate if there are no Supports nearby. Of course, since you can be revived with full health and turn on your attackers in the heat of the moment, it may also be beneficial to wait. Situational awareness and knowing where your Supports are can often be a difference maker, especially in tense pushes.

Drag Teammates

This one’s pretty self-explanatory, but it bears repeating. You can drag fallen comrades while reviving them by simply moving with the control stick or mouse. Sure, your movement speed is greatly impaired while aiding someone (when not playing Support), but the ability to move a teammate out of harm’s way behind cover, and even down stairs or across inclines, is absolutely vital so both you and your downed comrade aren’t both compromised.

Explosives in Close-Quarter Maps

It may seem counterintuitive, but going with launchers in close-quarter maps can catch some enemies by surprise. Anti-vehicle weapons are most ideal against, well, vehicles, but when enemies are grouped up in some of the tighter corridors, they can be surprisingly effective. Consider this an option in the regular playlists or go Engineer in the Closed Weapons playlists.

Make Vehicles More Efficient to Control

For ground vehicles, be sure to adjust aim-relative controls. Aim-relative controls determine if the vehicle’s aim rotates according to camera or vehicle direction (you know, like the warthog in Halo). There’s also a setting that decouples turret aiming from the vehicle rotation. It’s recommended you leave this off for unrestricted turret movement. Jets and helicopters can have the steepest learning curve. Don’t be too proud to turn the helicopter and jet control assist on. Control assist enables helicopters to automatically hover, a technique that otherwise requires additional input alongside trajectory and acceleration control. Turn this on if you’d rather focus more on the shooting.

“Developing on a live game, you can easily get players’ feedback. BF Labs is our way of getting players’ feedback during development time, while we can still address it,” said Bender, who also mentioned how getting community feedback has been “unspoken pillar of our development is how much we believe in the power of tapping into the community and what the community wants.”

Fasahat went on to further talk about the role Battlefield Labs played in the development of Battlefield 6, as well as how it will continue to be an important tool for Battlefield Studios moving forward as well. The studio plans to make further adjustments to even smaller aspects of the gameplay like time-to-kill and time-to-death.

“Battlefield Labs has been a big part of dev for this game, and moving forward, it’ll probably be a staple of development for us, to be honest,” Fasahat adds. “I think some of that testing is weapons-related. I know there was a lot of time-to-kill and time-to-death stuff that the community was raising, and these are part of some explorations and tweaks that we’re currently testing in Labs.”

Labs has already contributed quite a bit to the development of Battlefield 6. Those playtests, along with August’s open beta, helped Battlefield Studios ensure that the multiplayer shooter’s online servers could hold up to the rigours of launch day. Taking to social media, lead producer David Sirland wrote about being excited for the launch, noting that “we are planning for that of course, and open beta helped gauge the interest as well,” when it comes to the servers holding up.

Battlefield Studios has also written at length about the massive day one patch which will bring with it more than 200 changes to the game, from improvements to gameplay to bug fixes and even improved multiplayer playlists. Along with this, the company has also noted that Battlefield 6 has been “the most tested and iterated Battlefield game in history,” with more than 92 million hours played during the beta.

Battlefield 6 is also slated to get quite a bit of content when it kicks off its first season on October 28. The seasonal content will be split into three phases, with each phase bringing with it new content like maps and game modes on an almost monthly basis. Check out our coverage of the Season 1 roadmap for Battlefield 6 for more details.

Battlefield 6 is out on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. Check out our review for more details.

This latest iteration of Battlefield Labs will focus on testing out a number of features for Battlefield 6, including the Portal and server browser. An early implementation of Portal will be opened up in the playtest through the Community tab, with the focus of testing revolving around accessibility and UI clarity. However, it is worth noting that not all Portal features will be available in the playtest; players will not get to try out the Custom Community Experience-related features.

Rather, the playtest will focus on hosting, and how player-owned servers can be used through predefined shortcodes. The testing will also involve changing server descriptions, selecting tags, and how other players can join player-owned servers. All in all, the testing will have two key focuses: Hosting and Customisation, and Joining and Experiencing.

When it comes to gameplay, the Battlefield Labs playtest will also be a playground for checking how combined arms will work when it comes to game balance. To this, the playtest will feature two new maps – Operation Firestorm and Mirak Valley. Combined arms, for context, means maps that feature a combination of infantry-based gameplay as well as large-scale vehicular gameplay. Through this playtest, Battlefield Studios will focus on fine tuning various balance aspects, from vehicle damage and health, to gadget usability and balancing.

The announcement comes shortly after Battlefield 6 wrapped up its two open betas. The studios working on the game had revealed some details on what kind of feedback they got from the two open betas, and how they will be addressing this feedback in time for the full game’s launch. Among other things, weapons are going to get a balancing pass, with the M87A1 shotgun getting re-balanced to now require more pellets to secure a kill.

The studios also wrote about how they will tackle the question of player numbers for the various game modes available in Battlefield 6. For instance, Rush will focus on lower player counts, with the large-scale equivalent instead being Breakthrough, which can support up to 64 players, depending on the map. High player-count versions of Rush can also be played through Portal. The shooter will also include options for low player-count game modes, with Team Deathmatch, King of the Hill and Squad Deathmatch focusing on 16-player matches.

Battlefield 6 is coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on October 10. Leading up to the shooter’s release, EA has kicked off the Road to Battlefield 6 series of updates for Battlefield 2042, which involve new content coming to the game as well as rewards that can then be carried over into the upcoming shooter.

For more details about Battlefield 6, check out our thoughts about the open betas.

In case there’s any doubt, global community manager Kevin Johnson revealed that it is indeed Battle Royale and that it will be coming “soon” to Battlefield Labs. He also confirmed that those who registered for the playtests can receive early access to the beta, which begins on August 7th, even if they weren’t selected.

The Battlefield 6 open beta begins on August 9th and ends on August 10th with preloads now available. It will return on August 14th and conclude on the 17th. The full game launches on October 10th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Stay tuned for more details and learn more about Battlefield Studios’ approach to a server browser.

However, the company hasn’t yet provided more details about the open beta, including when it will go live or even what sort of content we can expect from it. Considering the Battlefield franchise overall, it is likely that the open beta will include at least a couple of maps, both showing off the franchise’s two signature game modes: Conquest and Rush.

The new style of classes without weapon restrictions was announced as part of the ongoing Battlefield Labs playtests back in May. In its announcement, the company had gone into detail about why customisation was going to be one of the biggest features of the game’s classes. Theoretically, this could mean that a player that picked the Medic class could decide to stay in the back lines and offer support by using a sniper rifle.

To balance this, the game will also give players special bonuses for using specific weapon types depending on their class. For example, a Recon player with a sniper rifle will have extra benefits, like the ability to hold their breath to line up long-distance shots, over a Medic player using the same weapon.

When this was announced, the overall response had been quite negative, with one of the top comments of the time calling it the new Battlefield game’s “first big L”. Commenters noted that, due to weapon restrictions, players were incentivised to play their classes more in line with expectations that the rest of their squad might have. This means that Medic players would have to stay close to the frontlines in order to heal and support their squadmates, for example.

With this new style of class and weapon restrictions—or lack thereof—developers DICE, Ripple Effect and Criterion seemingly want to incentivise players into using the right gear without outright preventing them from making the “wrong” choices.

Earlier this week, reports came up about the title for the next Battlefield game simply being Battlefield 6. These reports came courtesy of a picture posted by content creator Doom49 of a care package they had received from EA. This package seemingly had the Battlefield 6 logo on it. The post was quickly taken down. It was, however, preserved through a timely screenshot by other social media users.

If EA has indeed begun sending out these care packages to influencers and other content creators, the company is likely close to officially unveiling the next Battlefield game. While no official announcements about this have been made so far, we might end up seeing the first real trailer, as well as the official name of the game, during Gamescom in August. This would also keep the game in line with previous statements that indicated that it would be unveiled before the end of Summer.

In their post, Doom49 revealed that they were sent the care package as part of a sponsorship deal with EA, likely to do with the upcoming multiplayer shooter’s impending announcement and release. Assuming this isn’t just an elaborate hoax, Doom49 also likely deleted their post after being contacted by EA itself.

All things considered, however, the company is expecting to launch Battlefield 6 some time later this year. Keeping this in mind, EA likely has plans to officially unveil the game soon. However, the company is yet to release any comment on the leaked title of its upcoming Battlefield 6.

Global senior director of integrated communications for Battlefield, Andy McNamara, had confirmed through a social media post that the internal schedule still has the official unveiling of Battlefield 6 to happen before the end of the summer. Since summer technically ends on September 23, we might end up seeing the game get its first trailer during Gamescom’s Opening Night Live event.

The fact that Battlefield 6 is slated for release seems even likelier thanks to EA CEO Andrew Wilson expressing optimism about the game’s launch since Grand Theft Auto 6 got delayed to next year. When asked about the state of the industry and the company’s plans for Battlefield, Wilson referred to the launch window as being “clearer than it was before”.

“Relative to Battlefield, what we have said all along is we’ve been building towards a window that we thought made the most sense for Battlefield, but we wouldn’t launch into a window that we thought truncated the value that we’ve invested into the franchise, or the value that we think our players will derive from it once they jump in and start playing,” he said. “I think now, without going too far, we believe that window is clearer than it was before and we feel very good about launching Battlefield in [financial year] 2026.”

In the meantime, EA, along with the various developers working on the next Battlefield game, have been holding playtests for the upcoming title. Just last month, a report had come up about the playtest version of Battlefield getting a massive 13 GB update and bringing with it support for features like Nvidia’s DLSS. The update, players noted, had also changed the Pre-Alpha in-game watermark to just being Alpha, which would indicate that development on the title has been progressing at a decent pace.

However, there have also been reports of several parts of the development of Battlefield 6 facing quite a bit of trouble, including its single-player campaign, as well as the overall title’s inability to hit internal milestones.

Internally codenamed Glacier, the next Battlefield is shaping up to have the largest budget of any game in the entire franchise. Back in 2023, it had a targeted budget of over $400 million; setbacks and disruptions to production since then have further ballooned this.

A major source of problems has been the player number targets set by EA’s leadership for Glacier. The report indicates that the company has set a target of 100 million or more players over a set period. This, the report notes, is so that the company can compete with other major shooters in the market – Call of Duty and Fortnite.

“Obviously, Battlefield has never achieved those numbers before,” said one EA employee. “It’s important to understand that over about that same period, [Battlefield 2042] has only gotten 22 million,” said another. Even 2016’s Battlefield 1—the most successful game in the franchise by numbers—had achieved “maybe 30 million plus.”

Developers have also noted that there has been skepticism in the teams regarding the budget, the target player numbers, and how these costs are going to be recouped by EA. One developer said that there might also be a problem of the market not having an appetite for a Battlefield-styled shooter to meet the player numbers without cannibalizing the audiences for other games.

“Among the things that we are predicting is that we won’t have to cannibalize anyone else’s sales,” they said. “That there’s just such an appetite out there for shooters of this kind that we will just naturally be able to get the audience that we need.”

The development troubles faced by Glacier have also been affecting the game’s ability to hit development milestones – referred to internally at EA’s studios as “gates” – in a timely manner. While the first two of these “gates” revolve around pre-production work, including prototyping and testing key technologies, gate three marks full production. Glacier was expected to pass gate 3 in 2023 but ended up getting delayed quite a bit.

“I did not see robust budget, staff plan, feature list, risk planning, et cetera, as we left gate three,” said one employee, questioning whether the project should have been allowed to pass the gate at all. Problems with the project spanned from not having prototypes for key game systems and studio leadership not being in touch with the on-the-ground reality of the project’s development.

“If you don’t have those things fleshed out when you’re leaving pre-pro[duction], you’re just going to be playing catch-up the entire time you’re in production,” said a source, according to the report. For what it’s worth, Glacier cleared gate 3 in May 2025, with all of its features except for its single-player campaign having alpha builds.

The next Battlefield will launch by March 31st, 2026 with a reveal planned this Summer.

Players have also reported that the update has changed the watermark present on the game from being Pre-Alpha to just being Alpha, which indicates that the studios working on Battlefield Labs are making solid progress on the title’s development. While EA itself is yet to confirm the details of the update, players have also noticed files in the game’s folders that have references to a battle royale game mode.

This would also lay further credence to a report from earlier this week where Battlefield’s global senior director of integrated communications Andy McNamara spoke about the title being on track to be revealed this summer. “The community will know when the reveal is coming,” he said when asked if the game is still on track to be revealed in June. “We are focused on Labs and preparing for the reveal this Summer.”

The next Battlefield title has been going through quite a few changes as part of its Labs playtest. Back in May, the title’s developers detailed the new class system in the game, which will also feature a few controversial changes, including the lack of weapon restrictions on classes.

Rather, the aim of the developers seems to be to promote various players with classes to pick specific weapons by giving them bonuses for using the right weapon. The system, dubbed Signature Weapon, will provide, for example, a Recon player with bonuses for using sniper rifles, like the ability to hold their breath for long-distance shots.

The plan with this new system seems to be a way for the developers to discourage players from making bad decisions with their weapon loadouts with regards to class identity and teamwork, while not outright stopping them from making those decisions. Rather, with the Signature Weapon system, Battlefield wants to give players benefits for using certain weapon types with specific classes, while not giving too many drawbacks for weapon choices that could be seen as incorrect.

It is worth noting that these features are still undergoing tests, and might even get changed up as the Battlefield Labs playtests progress further.

As the playtests have been going on, EA CEO Andrew Wilson spoke about being more optimistic about the release of Battlefield 6 in light of Grand Theft Auto 6 getting delayed to 2026.

“I’m not sure I can comment on the rest of the industry and their launches or launch timings, other than to say typically today games take many years to build and develop, and it’s unlikely that if you weren’t already ready for launch in this window, it may be hard to get ready and take advantage of which might be otherwise a less competitive window than we may have anticipated earlier,” he said during an earnings call.

When asked if a reveal is still happening this June, he replied, “The community will know when the reveal is coming. We are focused on Labs and preparing for the reveal this Summer.” Given that Summer ends on September 23rd, it’s possible that a trailer could debut at Gamescom in August, if not sooner.

Battlefield 6, as it’s unofficially named, is currently scheduled to launch sometime before April 2026. Battlefield Labs began in March with a series of PC playtests for movement, combat, and destruction, with extensive gameplay leaked for the same.

Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson revealed that over 600,000 players participated in the playtests in North America and Europe. The initiative would eventually span to Asia. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming months, whether it’s other platforms joining or a potential open beta.