First reported by Battlefield Bulletin on Twitter, the open beta of Battlefield 6 has been achieving remarkable success on the Steam platform. As of the time of writing this article, the number of concurrent players hovers around 500,000. According to data from SteamDB, which meticulously tracks and records the performance metrics of games on Steam, the peak number of concurrent players for the Battlefield 6 beta reached an impressive 521,079.
This outstanding figure has propelled the Battlefield 6 beta to the 18th position in the history of Steam's peak concurrent players ranking. What makes this achievement even more notable is that it has surpassed the unified Call of Duty app. Back in November 2022, the peak number of concurrent players for the Call of Duty app stood at 491,670, placing it two spots behind the Battlefield 6 beta at the 20th position.
However, there are some important caveats to consider when making a direct comparison between Battlefield 6 and Call of Duty. For multiplatform games like these two, the concurrent player numbers on Steam never tell the full story. This is because a significant portion of players may choose to play on other platforms such as consoles or other PC gaming clients.
Even when focusing solely on the PC platform, the player numbers for Call of Duty are further complicated by its availability on other services. The game is accessible on Battle.net, a popular gaming platform with a large user base, and more importantly, it is also part of Game Pass. The inclusion in Game Pass, which offers a vast library of games for a subscription fee, undoubtedly had an impact on reducing the peak number of concurrent players for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on Steam last year, as many players opted to access the game through this subscription service instead.
Nonetheless, the performance of the Battlefield 6 open beta is still incredibly impressive. Open betas are typically a testing phase for games, allowing developers to gather feedback and identify issues before the official release, and they rarely attract such a massive number of players. This strong showing serves as further evidence that the long-standing rivalry between Call of Duty and Battlefield, which has been rather one-sided in favor of Call of Duty in recent years, could transform into a closely contested race this year.
Morgan Park, an FPS expert at PC Gamer, certainly believes this to be the case from a quality perspective. He has likely analyzed various aspects of both games, such as gameplay mechanics, graphics, and content, and concluded that Battlefield 6 has the potential to compete on an equal footing with Call of Duty this time around. Additionally, Mike Ybara, the former president of Blizzard, seems to be rooting for Battlefield 6, even going so far as to make predictions in its favor, which could be seen as indirectly "rooting against" his former team, given Blizzard's historical connections and collaborations in the gaming industry.
This outstanding figure has propelled the Battlefield 6 beta to the 18th position in the history of Steam's peak concurrent players ranking. What makes this achievement even more notable is that it has surpassed the unified Call of Duty app. Back in November 2022, the peak number of concurrent players for the Call of Duty app stood at 491,670, placing it two spots behind the Battlefield 6 beta at the 20th position.
However, there are some important caveats to consider when making a direct comparison between Battlefield 6 and Call of Duty. For multiplatform games like these two, the concurrent player numbers on Steam never tell the full story. This is because a significant portion of players may choose to play on other platforms such as consoles or other PC gaming clients.
Even when focusing solely on the PC platform, the player numbers for Call of Duty are further complicated by its availability on other services. The game is accessible on Battle.net, a popular gaming platform with a large user base, and more importantly, it is also part of Game Pass. The inclusion in Game Pass, which offers a vast library of games for a subscription fee, undoubtedly had an impact on reducing the peak number of concurrent players for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on Steam last year, as many players opted to access the game through this subscription service instead.
Nonetheless, the performance of the Battlefield 6 open beta is still incredibly impressive. Open betas are typically a testing phase for games, allowing developers to gather feedback and identify issues before the official release, and they rarely attract such a massive number of players. This strong showing serves as further evidence that the long-standing rivalry between Call of Duty and Battlefield, which has been rather one-sided in favor of Call of Duty in recent years, could transform into a closely contested race this year.
Morgan Park, an FPS expert at PC Gamer, certainly believes this to be the case from a quality perspective. He has likely analyzed various aspects of both games, such as gameplay mechanics, graphics, and content, and concluded that Battlefield 6 has the potential to compete on an equal footing with Call of Duty this time around. Additionally, Mike Ybara, the former president of Blizzard, seems to be rooting for Battlefield 6, even going so far as to make predictions in its favor, which could be seen as indirectly "rooting against" his former team, given Blizzard's historical connections and collaborations in the gaming industry.
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