Despite the series’ rocky history with alternative, trend-chasing modes,Battlefield 6’s Battle Royale game mode is looking more likely than ever. Recently,details leaked aboutBattlefield 6’s Battle Royale mode, shedding some light on how EA plans to diversify the franchise to attract a bigger market. It will need a larger player base if it wants to hit its alleged 100 million player milestone, and naturally, a live-service add-on could be the vehicle for that growth.
Nonetheless, there are a lot of waysBattlefield 6could incorporate a Battle Royale experience well, so long as it learns from the series’ past mistakes. From weapon handling, to uniquelyBattlefieldmoments, the next big shooter from EA has the right DNA for something like this to take off, and here are a few of the ways it should approach the mode.
Four Things a Battlefield 6 Battle Royale Needs to Get Right
Make Destruction a Core Part of the Experience
One ofBattlefield’s best features is destruction, and a Battle Royale mode should approach it from a really creative angle. WhereFortniteis about building up to outwit opponents,Battlefield 6could use destruction to open new pathways and transform arenas. With fewer players in the same area at once, destruction would not be as devastating as it can be in Conquest where maps are leveled in minutes, and DICE could use low-level destruction to hide the best loot in hard-to-reach locations. As players destroy walls to find caches, nearby opponents will see an explosion and naturally drift toward the spot, leading to tense and engaging firefights.
Free to Play and Separate to Core Experience
Live service models have increasingly struggled to do well with boxed prices, andBattlefield 6’s Battle Royale should be no exception. By taking a leaf out ofWarzone’s playbook, any Battle Royale needs to be free to play as part of a separate sandbox. Historically,Battle Royales and Extraction modes have been failures forBattlefield, so it needs to approach things differently this time, with an eye to capturing new players easily. Players of Extraction Shooters were not going to play2042’s Hazard Zone when there were dedicated alternatives, much asPUBGplayers were never going to jump into Firestorm. With experience fromApex Legendsand Vince Zampella, DICE and EA have hopefully learned this lesson, because getting things right on day one is the surest way to get success.
Vehicles Should Be a Driving Force
Battlefield’s huge roster of vehiclesis another core strength of the series, and one that needs to be incorporated. Firestorm tried to add them, and while the game was a little ahead of the curve in the sheer variety, the resource system made many of WW2’s iconic tanks almost unusable in the mode. This time around,BF6should arguably be less hands-on in hamstringing vehicles, letting them be a core part of the game with plenty of ways to use them as well as counter them. It wouldn’t beBattlefieldwithout a combined arms approach, and only aBF6BR could provide the perfect environment for vehicle combat to shine.
Innovating on Mechanics, Not Just Trend Chasing
While the price of admission helped to sink the previous two alternative modes, they were also not helped by a lack of ambition. In its tepid pursuit of trendy modes, DICE has never pushed the envelope forward much, sticking close to what BR and Extraction players were mostly familiar with. WhileMarathonis struggling to garner much positive receptionat the moment, it is trying to do a lot of Extraction mechanics differently, and thus has garnered some attention. Firestorm and Hazard Zone never had any features worth shouting about, so they both quickly died as better alternatives arose elsewhere.BF6needs to lead innovation again, and one of the core worries around a BR mode is that the game has missed the boat on a dwindling trend.
