Battlefield 6 Hits 7 Million in a Record-Breaking Launch as EA Teases a Connected Battlefield Universe

Battlefield 6 did not tiptoe onto the field. It kicked the door in. EA says the new entry is the fastest-selling Battlefield ever, and the numbers back it up in a big, loud way.

The launch by the numbers

• Launch date: October 10
• Sales: Over 7 million copies sold in the first three days, making it the biggest launch in franchise history
• Matches played: More than 172 million online matches during that initial three-day window (which was three days depending on your region)
• Streaming: Over 15 million hours watched across streaming platforms over launch weekend
• Concurrency: EA says it hit the most concurrent Battlefield players ever
• On Steam specifically: Concurrents cleared 700,000 within an hour on day one, knocking Apex Legends off EA's top Steam launch spot
• SteamDB all-time peak so far: 747,440
• Snapshot at the time the numbers were shared: 347,009 people in-game, with a 24-hour peak of 445,208

Yes, there was a hiccup

The EA app stumbled for some players at launch, and Vince Zampella ended up doing the rounds apologizing for the disruption. He also took a victory lap on the good news and thanked everyone for showing up.

"We never take moments like this for granted, so I want to express our sincere gratitude to our global Battlefield Studios and passionate community that has helped get us to this point."

"We appreciate you joining us for Battlefield 6's momentous launch. We have so much more to come in the weeks ahead."

What is next: Season 1, and EA's bigger plan

EA is positioning this launch as step one in a larger, connected Battlefield universe. The immediate next step: Season 1 lands October 28. Battlefield general manager Byron Beede teased that first-season content was less than two weeks out from the update, which lines up with that October 28 date.

Season 1 kicks off with Rogue Ops, which adds a new map called Blackwell Fields and an 'intense' new 4v4 mode. Two more phases of Season 1 content are set to roll out later this year. Also floating around: a report that EA internally hoped to hit 100 million players for Battlefield 6. That target is unofficial, but it gives you a sense of the ambition.

Meanwhile, the community is already doing chaos science

Because of course they are: players have found a movement exploit that lets you ride a drone into the clouds. The preferred loadout seems to be a sniper rifle so you can plink enemies from skybox country. It is ridiculous, and yes, extremely on brand for Battlefield launch month.

Bottom line: huge debut, record traffic, a few launch gremlins, and a busy content roadmap about to start. If the momentum holds, EA has a monster on its hands.