Battlefield 6 Launch Report: Steam Records, CoD Comparison, and Day-One Review Scores

Intense battles and explosive action scenes captivate players as Battlefield 6's release sees its player count skyrocket.

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Fairness note: All player-count comparisons below refer to Steam only. Call of Duty also ships via Battle.net, Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation, and Xbox—those platforms aren’t captured in Steam peaks. Until EA shares official combined totals, Steam is the cleanest apples-to-apples we’ve got.

Launch by the Numbers (Steam)

• All-time peak on Steam (launch day, Oct 10, 2025): 747,440 concurrent playersSources: SteamDB live & peak chart • Coverage: Tom’s Hardware, Windows Central

• Rocket start: 500k+ concurrents in ~25 minutes, triggering queuesSource: PC Gamer

• Open Beta context (Aug 9, 2025): 521,079 peakSource: SteamDB – BF6 Open Beta

Did Battlefield 6 Outperform Call of Duty (on Steam)?

Short answer: Yes—on day-one Steam concurrency.

• BF6 (2025): 747,440 peak on SteamSource: SteamDB

• Headlines confirming the overtake of CoD’s historic Steam peaks:Insider Gaming, GamesRadar

Caveat for the Regiment: CoD’s audience is heavily distributed across Battle.net and consoles. The data above proves BF6’s Steam surge; it does not prove cross-platform dominance. When/if EA shares combined platform totals, we’ll know the global picture.

Image CreditCredit image to EA Games.DescriptionSoldiers navigate through a war-torn landscape of rubble and burning vehicles, showcasing intense battle action.

Critical Reception: A Polished Return to Form

Aggregators (launch window):

• OpenCritic: 84/100 — “Mighty”; ~91% critics recommendSource: OpenCritic – Battlefield 6 and Charts

• Metacritic: ~84/100 across platforms (scores fluctuate by platform page)Roundups/coverage: GamesRadar meta story, Windows Central score roundup, platform listings on Metacritic

Selected outlet takes (examples):

• GamesRadar – 4/5: Praises refined combat and technical polish; not wildly innovative, but “best reception in years.”Source: GamesRadar

• PC Gamer – Launch coverage: Positive on the sandbox and stability; notes queues due to the early surge.Source: PC Gamer

The consensus: Multiplayer is the headline, with improved destruction, stronger class identity, and much cleaner performance than the last go-round. Campaign feedback is more mixed—serviceable rather than essential—but it doesn’t drag the overall package.

BATTLEFIELD 6 LAUNCH TRAILER HYPE. IGN

Performance & Stability (Early Days)

Early tech reports point to solid PC optimization out of the gate and a quick climb to massive player loads without catastrophic downtime (queues did appear at peak). Expect the usual post-launch balance patches and hotfix cadence.Coverage: Tom’s Hardware, Windows Central

Why This Matters for Battlefield

After the turbulence of 2042, Battlefield 6 is reading as a confident course-correction:

• Record-class Steam concurrency shows the appetite for combined-arms mayhem with meaningful destruction is alive and well.

• Critic averages in the mid-80s mark the franchise’s strongest reception in years.

• Head-to-head (on Steam), BF6 seized the launch-day spotlight from CoD—a symbolic win that will help momentum into the first content drops.

Scoreboard (Bookmark This)

• OpenCritic: 84 / 100 — Mighty (≈58+ critic reviews)Link: opencritic.com/game/19051/battlefield-6

• Metacritic: ~84 / 100 (platform pages vary)Start here: metacritic.com/game/battlefield-6

• Steam Peaks: 747,440 (Oct 10, 2025)Live chart: steamdb.info/app/2807960/charts

Sources & Further Reading

• Steam player counts (live & historical): SteamDB – Battlefield 6, SteamDB – BF6 Open Beta

• Launch-day surge/queues: PC Gamer

• Peak coverage & context: Tom’s Hardware, Windows Central, Insider Gaming, GamesRadar

• Review aggregators: OpenCritic, Metacritic (hub)

• Metacritic coverage & rankings context: GamesRadar – meta story, Windows Central – roundup