EA App Locks Battlefield 6 Owners Out Over Phantom DLC: Vince Zampella Calls It Embarrassing, Urges Refunds and a Steam Switch

Battlefield 6 finally landed today, and a bunch of PC players can’t even launch it because the EA app is throwing a lovely 'purchase to play' error. Not great. The weirdest part: the guy running the franchise is telling people to ditch EA’s own launcher and just buy it on Steam.

What’s breaking and where

The error appears to be tied to the EA app specifically. If you’re trying to boot up through EA’s launcher, you might be greeted with that 'purchase to play' message even if you already own the game. Steam users seem to be dodging the problem for now.

Vince Zampella is… not thrilled

Vince Zampella, who oversees Battlefield, has been venting publicly while the team scrambles to fix things. He’s been replying to frustrated players, apologizing, and, yes, suggesting an end run around the issue by switching stores.

'I have yelled about ea app people. Any suggestions on next levels of escalation?'

'Lots of people working on it, so sorry. Honestly embarrassing.'

'We are lighting fires under everyone to fix it.'

When one player called the situation 'unbelievable,' Zampella agreed. And when someone suggested yelling at EA CEO Andrew Wilson, he defended him:

'It’s not his fault, he’s just as upset as me.'

He also told a player what he himself is doing right now:

'Can you refund and buy on steam?'

Why the EA app is such a sticking point

If you’re wondering why anyone is still on EA’s launcher instead of Steam, it’s history. Battlefield has long lived in EA’s ecosystem, especially during the years when EA pulled its games from Steam entirely. Plenty of series veterans have their friend lists and habits built into the EA app. That’s part of why this particular error is such a mess.

So what should you do?

• If you bought on the EA app and can’t get in, Zampella himself suggested refunding there and picking it up on Steam.
• The developers are actively working on a fix for the EA app issue, so you can also wait it out.
• If your whole squad is anchored to the EA app, weigh that before jumping platforms, but right now Steam is the path of least resistance.

Bottom line: the team knows it’s broken, they’re on it, and the most reliable way to play today seems to be Steam. Kind of wild to see a studio head say that out loud, but here we are.