Battlefield 6 Open Beta hits 521k concurrent players on Steam

The Battlefield 6 Open Beta set a new bar for the series on Steam, reaching a peak of about 521,000 concurrent players during its first weekend and signaling one of the largest PC launches in the franchise’s history. The test, spanning an early-access window and a subsequent public weekend, is designed to build momentum ahead of the October 10 release across PC and consoles. With more players flocking to the beta than any previous Battlefield title on Steam, EA and DICE have underscored a renewed push to reestablish Battlefield as a major rival to the long-running Call of Duty series.

The beta rollout unfolded in layers. Early Access began on August 7 for participants signed up through Battlefield Labs, streamer codes, or related promotions, followed by a broader weekend that allowed anyone to download and play the beta without a code. In the first login wave, players encountered long queues as the servers went live, a sign of heavy demand that EA acknowledged as a normal part of a popular test. By the weekend’s end, SteamDB tracked a peak of 521,079 concurrent players, a figure that not only surpassed the series’ own Steam records but also exceeded Call of Duty’s highest Steam...