It's official folks. With just its severely limited open beta, Battlefield 6 has crossed over half a million concurrent players on Steam alone, eclipsing its predecessor's launch numbers almost fivefold and cementing itself as 2025's most-hyped game.
According to data tracking site SteamDB, Battlefield 6 has peaked at 517,102 players as of this article, crossing well over half a million concurrent players. The game's open beta has finally been opened for everyone after it initially started on Aug. 7 for those with early access keys, which obviously pulled in a lot of players who were eagerly waiting to get their hands on EA and DICE's new title.
Compared to Battlefield 2042, which peaked at 107,376 players at launch, this upcoming entry to the franchise is nearly five times as popular, which says a lot about just how bad 2042 was.
This also puts Battlefield 6 at the top as the most-played BF title on Steam in history, a title previously held by 2042 itself. The numbers are, to put it lightly, mind-boggling, and indicate a severe symptom of fps drought as players are flocking head over heels to what just might be one of the best first-person shooter experiences in recent memory.
Outside of games like Counter-Strike 2 and other veteran titles, first-person shooters, especially ones with large-scale gameplay and arcade elements, have gotten pretty stale. Call of Duty has been eroding slowly for the past several years, while Battlefield itself has been stuck in limbo ever since 2042 came out, with the player base usually going back to older titles to scratch that itch.
Now, with Battlefield 6's unified fast-paced arcadey combat and massive, large-scale battles, both CoD and Battlefield players are gunning for this new title, which seems to have attracted both veterans and newcomers alike. Whatever the actual reason for BF6's incredible popularity, one thing is certain: EA and DICE finally have something to be proud of. Let's hope they don't end up ruining it by launch.
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