The Battlefield 6 server browser had my curiosity, but now it has my attention: Battlefield Studios just confirmed that servers spun up in its "Portal browser" can be made persistent. Theoretically, that means the Portal browser will behave like a classic FPS browser, allowing someone to host a "24/7 CAIRO ONLY" server that won't disappear after everybody goes to bed.
BF Studios' exact wording for how server persistence will work came in a larger blog published today detailing the power of its Halo Forge-like mapping tools and PC-specific features.
"Included with game purchase, players will also have the ability to make their hosted servers persistent, so it's always listed in the browser for easy access."
That's a major win for Battlefield 6. Persistence was the last big question mark hanging over Battlefield 6's server browser plans, as many were reasonably worried that Portal servers would be purely temporary, and therefore difficult to build a tangible community around, as happened in Battlefield 2042.
Considering the idle cost of hosting servers with nobody in them, it's surprising that Battlefield 6 is supporting such a feature at no additional cost (past games let you rent servers from EA).
The importance of democratic server browsers in an FPS was on full display during the Battlefield 6 beta: we saw how particular the community can be about modes, maps, and classes, and the folly of trying to satisfy everybody at once with a handful of featured playlists.
A persistent server browser, if it works as intended, is a solution to a problem that the first multiplayer shooters figured out from the start: give players the tools to find the best version of Battlefield for themselves. There's a beauty to the idea that, if Battlefield 6 only has four maps I actually like, or if I prefer Conquest with double the tickets, I can spin up a server that like-minded players can favorite and come back to.
Now, Battlefield 6 has to prove Portal is as good as it sounds. Also announced today, the next round of Battlefield Labs playtests will focus on big maps and testing the Portal browser. It won't have any wacky custom game modes as we've seen in trailers, but it will let folks test drive server hosting and rule tweaking.
