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Windows Central
Windows Central
Technology
Brendan Lowry

It's official: Battlefield 6 is the best-selling game of 2025, and holy smokes — it had the biggest launch month of any game in the past 3 years, too

Battlefield 6.

Following its explosive launch last month, something immediately clear to pretty much everyone was that Battlefield 6 — Electronic Arts (EA) and Battlefield Studios' latest entry in the beloved multiplayer FPS series — had rapidly become one of the most popular games of the year. After all, it released to 750K concurrent players on Steam alone, and managed to sell a whopping 7 million copies in just three days.

Following all that initial success, the Battlefield devs went on to claim that it's the "best-selling shooter game of the year," which is a bold statement to make immediately after the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, but true regardless — at least for now. New data, though, reveals some even more impressive statistics about EA's new shooter.

According to this thread from senior director Mat Piscatella of the market research firm Circana, Battlefield 6 isn't just the best-selling shooter of the year, but is also the best-selling game of 2025 as well. It holds the top spot on both Xbox and Windows PC, and on PS5, it's in second place, with only NBA 2K26 achieving better sales performance.

Perhaps even more outstanding, though, is the fact that Battlefield 6 has had the strongest launch month of any game released in the past three years. The last title that sold more copies in a one-month timeframe after release is 2022's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 — a game that Battlefield 6's launch sales have been frequently compared to.

Circana's data also confirmed that Battlefield 6 is the best-selling game in Battlefield history. Previously, that title was held by 2016's Battlefield 1, which had a hugely successful launch week and sold over 5 million copies in that time frame. The latest title's performance surpassed even that, however.

Battlefield 6's new Eastwood map has proven to be a huge hit with the community, and is now one of the game's most popular maps. (Image credit: Electronic Arts)

Some of the other big games Battlefield 6 outsold in October include Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Ghost of Yotei, NBA 2K26, The Outer Worlds 2, and Little Nightmares 3, among others. Notably, recorded sales include both physical and digital copies across Xbox, PC, PlayStation, and the Nintendo eShop for the Nintendo Switch 2.

As for the top-selling games of 2025 it's outperformed, there's Monster Hunter: Wilds, Borderlands 4, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, Elden Ring Nightreign, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 on that list, along with some fan-favorite 2024 holdouts like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Helldivers 2.

It will be interesting to see Circana's November report and where Battlefield 6's current direct multiplayer shooter competitors — Black Ops 7 and ARC Raiders, namely — stand, as I can see one or both games eventually catching up to and surpassing it. But I'd say there's a good chance Battlefield will hold onto its best-sales crown, as well.

Battlefield 6's success can largely be attributed to its excellent gunplay and its position as a return to form for a series that's been struggling to remain relevant for years.

Battlefield 6's success can largely be attributed to its excellent gunplay and its position as a return to form for a series that's been struggling to remain relevant since 2018's Battlefield V, with 2021's Battlefield 2042 proving to be especially damaging to the franchise's reputation with its wild diversion from Battlefield's formula.

In contrast, Battlefield 6 brings back the series' class-based structure, complete with a huge variety of weapons, creative new class gadgets that provide a tactical edge when used intelligently, the most advanced and dynamic map destruction the franchise has ever had, 11 maps, and several different game modes to play. There's also a decent campaign, as well.

The release of the free-to-play battle royale Battlefield REDSEC has undoubtedly brought lots of extra attention to Battlefield 6 itself, bolstering sales and player counts. (Image credit: Battlefield Studios)

Towards the end of October, Battlefield Studios also released a free-to-play battle royale called Battlefield REDSEC for the game that directly competes with Call of Duty: Warzone. Though REDSEC hasn't contributed to any sales numbers, it's nevertheless brought a lot of attention to Battlefield 6, and many have likely purchased the full game after getting a taste of it through the battle royale.

If you don't yet own Battlefield 6 but are interested in playing it, note that there's a free trial coming next week that runs from November 25 to December 2. While it's active, you can play three of the game's maps across five of its game modes, and presumably, any progress you make towards unlocking weapons, attachments, and gadgets will carry over if you decide to buy the game.

Though REDSEC hasn't contributed to any sales numbers, it's nevertheless brought a lot of attention to Battlefield 6, and many have likely purchased the full game after getting a taste of it through the battle royale.

The free trial is being offered to celebrate the launch of Battlefield 6's California Resistance update — a new patch delivered as part of Season 1 that included the Eastwood map set in a SoCal golf resort, two new weapons, the addition of powerful "battle pickup" weapons like a minigun and a railgun you can find scattered throughout maps, plenty of new cosmetics, and more.

Battlefield 6 itself is available across Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PS5 for $69.99. Note that the Xbox version is going for only $60.69 at Loaded; that's close to a full $10 off, and a great deal you should take advantage of if getting the game interests you.

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