Battlefield 6 arrives October 10, and the beta kicks off next week

The Battlefield 6 multiplayer reveal event has delivered, at least when it comes to some hard news about the upcoming game. Yes, a lot of the information leaked ahead of time, but we’re still happy to get official confirmation.

The big news is the release date, of course, but we also finally got some solid details about the game’s upcoming beta.

First things first, Battlefield 6 arrives October 10 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S – bucking the trend of many recent multiplayer shooters launching on both generations of consoles. EA didn’t immediately share the price of the game, however.

The open beta is close, too. The beta takes place over two weekends, with an early access period of August 7-8. The first weekend is set for August 9-10, and the second is set for August 14-17.

Early on in the multiplayer gameplay showcase event, members of the Battlefield Studios coalition also shared an overview of the core features of the upcoming game. We got a look at a couple of the maps that will be available at launch, such as Siege of Cairo, and Empire State. The game will sport nine maps at launch, including the Operation Firestorm remake. Portal mode from Battlefield 2042 also returns.

With the Battlefield 6 release date now confirmed, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7’s rumoured to be in November, it looks like EA’s shooter will get to go first. So far at least, hype and general excitement are squarely in Battlefield’s favour, but Black Ops 7’s own multiplayer reveal won’t take place until the second half of August at gamescom, meaning that game’s beta likely won’t arrive until October.

This is all especially interesting, as EA is quite keen to replicate the Call of Duty model with Battlefield 6. There’s going to be a free-to-play mode alongside the core, premium AAA game, and the publisher is hoping the game will be popular enough to convince players to spend money on in-game cosmetics.

While the upcoming beta represents most players’ first opportunity to play Battlefield 6, DICE has been running various limited tests under the Battlefield Labs programme, and feedback has (mostly) been incredibly positive, so that momentum can only carry forward to the beta.