Battlefield 6 Portal Mode Could Finally Topple Call of Duty

Battlefield 6 just launched and, sure, the player numbers are massive. But the real story is not the 747,000 concurrent Steam players headlining social feeds or the glowing day-one buzz. It is that, within 24 hours, the game essentially grew a community-built Call of Duty museum inside it. As in: players fired up 24/7 Shipment servers, and no, not a lookalike. The actual COD4 Shipment, recreated box-for-box in Portal.

So, yes, Battlefield players are running Shipment

Portal mode dropped alongside the base game on October 10, and creator Matavatar had Shipment ready before the official servers even flipped on. They rebuilt it using Portal's spatial editor, suspending the whole layout inside Operation Firestorm's skybox and piecing it together with concrete blocks shaped into shipping containers. Spawn points set for both teams. Scale tuned to match that tight COD geometry you can sprint across in a sneeze.

'Should be available on day 1'

That was posted October 9, 2025. By the time most folks finished downloading, there were already multiple dedicated servers running it, 100+ likes, and a chorus of: why wait for Black Ops 7 if the thing everyone actually plays is already here?

The numbers are big, but the timing is bigger

Two different tallies are floating around for Battlefield 6's Steam peak: 747,000 early on, and 521,000 in the comparison everyone is using against Call of Duty's beta. Either way, the gap is wide. Activision's Black Ops 7 beta topped out at 99,000 on Steam. Meanwhile, Battlefield 6 launches, Portal arrives, and suddenly iconic COD maps are live with Battlefield's destruction and 128-player servers before BO7 even ships on November 14.

• Battlefield 6 launch: October 10, Portal included on day one
• Matavatar's Shipment: posted October 9, running within 24 hours
• Steam peaks: Battlefield 6 at 747k (also cited as 521k), BO7 beta at 99k
• BO7 launch: November 14, about a month after Battlefield 6

Portal turns players into the content pipeline

If you have ever begged for permanent Shipment or Nuketown playlists while Activision rotates them in and out on a schedule only they understand, this hits different. In Battlefield 6, if you want that map, you just build it. Or, more realistically, someone else already did. And it is not stopping at COD. People are mocking up Dust2 with custom rule sets. Someone even slapped together a rough Star Destroyer because they could. As more creators figure out Portal's toolset, the pace only accelerates.

This is the kind of ecosystem that extends a shooter’s lifespan. Halo 3's Forge kept that game breathing for seven years. Counter-Strike's workshop basically made it immortal. Portal has that potential out of the box if EA does not kneecap it. The big difference this time is how approachable the tools are. Forge used to require real elbow grease. Portal is accessible enough that accurate remakes were online before most players hit their first spawn.

The awkward legal question (and why it probably fizzles)

Could Activision go after direct COD map recreations with takedowns? Theoretically, sure. Practically, that would be a PR grenade. And so far EA has not said a word about limiting or banning these remakes, which tells you how they are thinking about Portal: let the community do what the competition typically keeps behind a gate.

What happens when BO7 actually drops?

The real test comes when Black Ops 7 hits on November 14. Can Activision push out content faster than thousands of hobby devs can build and share it? That is a rough race to win long-term. The safer move is doubling down on the existing model and hoping the brand carries the day. Harder sell when players can already get the maps they want, on the platform they are currently playing, without waiting for anyone's permission.

So, honest question: did Portal just decide where your money goes in November, or is BO7 still a lock for you? Drop your take below.