The One Change Battlefield 6 Ignored That Could Have Transformed Teamplay: Closed Weapons Mode

Battlefield 6 is not even out yet and the community is already fighting over how guns should work. Not maps, not modes. Guns. Specifically: Closed Weapons vs Open Weapons. If that sounds weirdly inside baseball, it is. But it matters to people who care about balance and teamplay. So here is what is going on, why it blew up, and where I land.

Why this is a thing in the first place

Historically, Battlefield kept weapons Closed. Everyone plays with the same guns configured the same way, which keeps things tighter and a bit more team-focused. Then Battlefield 2042 showed up and flipped the table with Open Weapons, where you can swap attachments on the fly mid-match. That Call of Duty style flexibility is fun for some, chaos for others. And that shift in 2042 is the root of the current BF6 divide.

Quick refresher: Closed vs Open

• Closed Weapons - Same weapon setup for everyone. The idea is cleaner balance and clearer roles.
• Open Weapons - You can adjust attachments any time during a match, tailoring the gun to your taste and the moment.

What EA said before launch

In a pre-release patch breakdown, EA said most players gravitated toward the Open Weapons playlist during the beta. You would think that might settle the argument. It did not. It poured gasoline on it.

The beta data fight

EA says the preference data comes from beta performance across all game modes. Some players are not buying it, arguing the Closed Weapons playlist was buried in the beta menu thanks to how the playlist tiles were placed. In other words: fewer eyes, fewer clicks, skewed results. Battlefield 6 lead producer David Sirland jumped in on X to address exactly that placement complaint.

We normalize for placement impact of course. Thats a given in any data comparasion. We did measure placement impact across the beta on all tiles as you may have noticed

Meanwhile, the casual crowd

A lot of people just want to spawn, blow stuff up, and go about their day. Creator Westie put it pretty bluntly:

Brutal truth: Casuals won't care about Closed Weapons. Or Open Weapons. Or even what weapon they're using most of the time. They just wanna play Battlefield 👍 https://t.co/3x2CQYxgXl

And honestly, that tracks. Whether you are a Closed purist or an Open tinkerer, most players just want the game to be good when it actually launches.

My read on the playlists

EA is not axing the Closed Weapons option, but it does need more love. The BF6 beta menu made the Closed playlist harder to reach, which obviously did not help its numbers. For long-time Battlefield fans, Closed used to be the default. After 2042, that expectation changed. Plenty of players now like to fine-tune their rifles like they do in Call of Duty, and that is fine.

What I want at launch: give Closed equal billing so people can actually find it, and keep Open as a clear, separate choice for those who want it. This is one of those design decisions where visibility equals viability. If you are going to offer both, do not let the UI make the decision for people.

Bottom line: the community is split, neither side is wrong, and the only real mistake would be burying a popular option in a menu tile. Give players the choice, then get out of the way.