Battlefield 6 open beta: 521,000 players on Steam, beats Call of Duty player record

Battlefield is back and better than ever, pulling in the interest of hundreds of thousands of gamers worldwide.

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The Battlefield 6 open beta is here, and has already broken one of its competitor's major player records. Just 4 hours ago, the Battlefield 6 open beta saw an all-time peak of 521,079 players, beating the Call of Duty launcher's all-time peak by nearly 30,000 users. The Call of Duty launcher hit a peak of 491,000 players quite some time ago in 2022.

Remember that these numbers are only on Steam, and do not include the EA App or those playing on consoles--the actual player base could be significantly higher, especially since the PS5 just hit 80.3 million shipments.

Reports indicate that Activision is not particularly worried about Battlefield 6, with the general sentiment being that Call of Duty is "too big to fail."

These numbers clearly show that gamers are willing to at least try Battlefield 6 and give it their time, and based on the community response, it looks like EA has a big Call of Duty contender on their hands. A lot is riding on Battlefield's success, at least in terms of EA's non-sports franchises, among which Battlefield holds high significance and earnings potential. The publisher certainly seems to expect a measure of success with Battlefield 6, with EA forecasting a record $8 billion in net bookings to be earned this fiscal year.

DICE and Battlefield 6's myriad development teams will closely monitor beta feedback to make sure the game lives up to expectations when it ships on October 10, 2025.