There’s a huge queue to get in the Battlefield 6 Open Beta before it even starts.
After IGN reported how thousands of people were sitting on the Battlefield 6 Open Beta menu screen on Steam yesterday, August 5, today, just hours before the open beta launches for those with early access, EA has had to trigger the kind of queue system we’re used to seeing with PC MMOs.
IGN’s Jesse Gomez was put into a queue earlier today when trying to access the Battlefield 6 Open Beta on Steam, and found himself presented with a ‘game servers full’ message. His queue position: 22,880.
Checking again just before this article was published, the queue position had jumped to 31,000.
You could pre-load the game as early as 8am PT on August 4, letting fans download the Battlefield 6 open beta ahead of early access opening at 1am PT tomorrow, August 7 (here’s IGN’s guide on how to get in on the action).
Lots of players are getting ahead of the game and setting their options, taking 30 minutes or so to edit user interface colors and weapon Field of View, for example. Others are just using it to share their excitement with friends.
According to Steam’s official stats, the Battlefield 6 open beta currently has 17,477 “players” on Valve’s platform, which means it’s officially more popular than any other Battlefield game there, including Battlefield 5.
So, what does this mean for Battlefield 6? From EA’s perspective, it suggests there’s significant interest in the game. EA has said it’s all-in on Battlefield 6, so there’s significant pressure on it to perform. It will be interesting to see the concurrent figures on Steam when the open beta goes live. I suspect the queues will only get bigger.
Meanwhile, Battlefield 6 producer Jeremy Chubb has said fan-favorite Battlefield: Bad Company 2 was a “huge inspiration” for developing the shooter’s upcoming instalment.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
