Everything we learned from Battlefield 6 multiplayer reveal: Price, pre-orders, classes, editions, game modes & more

Battlefield is back! Is it…? It feels like it. The Battlefield 6 multiplayer reveal was broadcast live, and we now have a fair bit more information than initially expected, including gameplay footage, open beta details, a release date, and pre-order and pricing information. We also have details about classes, vehicles, maps, and gameplay mechanics. We’ll get to all of this below, and can understand how happy the devs are with the title’s massive destruction…to the sound of Limp Bizkit’s 1999 classic track, ‘Break Stuff’.

Whatever you think of that connection, or how experienced that song makes some of us feel, we’ve gained plenty of details about what could be the best Battlefield game so far. EA will hope that’s the case, gamers want it to be, and if the enthusiasm of the studio heads could be melded into reality, it’d be a shoo-in.

The Battlefield 6 release date is officially October 10, 2025 (10/10), with the base game ‘Standard Edition’ available for pre-order for $70. 

With any Battlefield 6 pre-order, you get:

 That’s joined by a $100 Phantom Edition, which also gets you:

In a world that’s “filled with chaos”, countries are fighting to establish a new global order at any cost in BF6, so “anything can happen, at any moment”. For context, it’s 2027, and major European countries have left NATO. As the US and its key allies fight for stability, a massive private military corporation looks to fill the void: Pax Armata. While Pax Armata has deep pockets and the latest technology, the US and NATO are determined to prevent a reshaping of the world order. 

The game, in both single and multiplayer modes, will take us across the globe and deliver a set of unique characters, while looking to deliver what was referred to during the broadcast as a “modern military playground”, where destruction matters more than ever before. We’ll come to that, but let’s look at what we know about classes. 

While information was light on one of the key points of discussion of the last few months, Battlefield 6 classes, we’re told that the returning system will offer innovation and choice to players. That sounds like locked signature weapons with open weapon options, but that wasn’t specifically confirmed. 

However, one core element of BF games, which  I’m not sure anyone thought was at risk, was confirmed, with Dice’s Senior Producer, David Sirland, confirming, “We heard you loud and clear, you want the class system back”. He’s not wrong in calling it an “iconic formula for Battlefield”, either. This time out, each will have a signature weapon set, class-exclusive gadgets, and traits, but probably not locked weapons. 

Here are the paraphrased descriptions:

The classic assault role returns with an extra primary weapon, flashbangs, rifle-mounted noob… grenade launchers, flashbangs, an adrenaline shot, and the tools needed to push and penetrate the enemy front line.  

A “deterrent” for tanks, helicopters, and (not our words) “f***ing jets”, this class will have rockets, mines, and the classic repair tool on hand for fixing up vehicles, equipment, and weapon placements. 

Supply crates, heals, and ammo, the Support class can drag allies away from danger while healing them, throw down deployable cover, and are the ‘masters’ of the machine gun.

Providing vital information from the edge of the battlefield, they have sniper rifles, drones to pinpoint enemy positions, C4 to take out tanks and buildings, and a laser designator to guide allied missiles. 

The Battlefield team’s “Kinesthetic Combat System” is combat reapproached and rebuilt from the ground up. The idea is to have a wide range of tactical and reflexive options during combat, allowing you to decide how to push an advantage or level the playing field based on your battlefield awareness, how you move, shoot, and use your surroundings. 

The footage shown to highlight this saw a NATO soldier run through a door, spot incoming enemies pushing up a flight of stairs, shooting at those enemies, running past across a landing, breaking out of a window onto a street to land behind those same enemies, before helping to eliminate them, before returning to their feet. Important additional elements include ‘drag and revive’, leans, peeking around corners, mounting weapons on walls, crouch sprinting, and evasive rolls. 

For Battlefield 6’s vehicles, responsiveness, intuity, and simplified controls are the focus, regardless of whether you’re in a helicopter (we saw Attack and Chinook helis, although the latter isn’t confirmed as controllable), a tank, or a jet. Simplified controls, sure, but a high skill ceiling is to be expected for those who want to specialize. Further, a new ‘hitch a ride’ ability allows your squad to expand the number of crew slots for vehicles so you can stay together. 

Finally, a debut to ‘Tactical Destruction’ makes Battlefield 6 the most destructive ever. And it’s abundantly clear the devs are proud by the amount it was mentioned. Allowing you to swing the tide of battle by changing your environment, flattening buildings, taking our floors, blowing open walls, and even using a sledgehammer, Battlefield 6 wants to hand power to players. Is all of this genre-defining? Potentially. The studios behind the title think so. And it does look impressive. 

More modes, more experiences, and more Portal is the claim for multiplayer settings, with expansive, large-scale warfare and close-quarters, intense maps available in locations including Egypt (Cairo), Gibraltar, New York, and Tajikistan. Nine maps will be available at launch, with a returning BF3 map, Operation Firestorm. The nine maps lend some credibility to recent leaks, with all maps supporting any of the multiplayer modes. 

We learned that this flexibility is due to adaptively designed combat zones that support all of Battlefield 6’s modes. Those are: Conquest, Breakthrough, Rush, Team Deathmatch, Squad Deathmatch, Domination, King of the Hill, and Escalation, where teams are pushed to a final “climactic” battle. That’s a lot to get players’ teeth into, for sure, and a huge variety across nine maps. 

The action looks incredible, although it was a mix of in-development gameplay footage and cinematic sequences shared. But the action is map-specific, with Gibraltar being close-quarters, Cairo focused on infantry and land vehicles, and Tajikistan all about large-scale battles. And with the return of Battlefield Portal, custom-built experiences will be available with an updated offering allowing editing and the potential for hardcore rule-sets.

Yes, there’s a single-player campaign, and it focuses on an elite unit of US Marine Raiders named “Dagger 1-3”, attempting to stabilize NATO and counter PAX Armata and a ‘coalition’. Playing from the perspective of each member will be key, as will a cast of characters, action set-pieces, and a CIA operative known as Agent Mills.

BF3’s Operation Firestorm is back as a re-imagined map for multiplayer modes, yet another potential storm of fire looks to be the free-to-play Battle Royale mode. There were strong hints, pretty close to confirmation, that it’s coming, with comments that Ripple Effect Studios is working on “a brand new experience”, that will be arriving at Battlefield Labs for testing soon.

To this end, we were shown a short segment of footage (you can see it at this point of the broadcast), with soldiers being chased across an area with a swimming pool, as destruction ensues. When the camera spins 180 degrees, a raging storm of fire can be seen closing in and approaching…followed by the Battlefield Labs logo. 

We made it this far to be rewarded with news that beta tests are imminent for Battlefield 6. An early access beta will run August 7-8 for watchers of streamers involved in the live broadcast ‘streamer showcase’ that occurred after the reveal, where drops were provided.

But if you missed it, that will be followed by two weekends of completely open beta tests on August 9-10 and August 14-17, which you can access assuming you’ve pre-ordered either the Standard or Phantom Editions of Battlefield 6.

So there we have it. What did we learn in the multiplayer reveal? A lot, and it’s nice to have some facts with which to bat away some leaks and rumors. We know about single-player, multiplayer modes, some map information, a lot about how Battlefield 6 thrives on destruction and battlefield awareness, and that the devs are keen for players to get in, experience the battles, and break stuff.

Ahead of the October 10 launch, open beta tests should provide opportunities to test out the gameplay, vehicles, classes, and modes, although we don’t yet know the full details of what Ripple Effect Studios is working on. But we’re sure the rumored ‘Battlefield Royale’ isn’t too far away from providing more details either. Will I be in open beta? I hope so. Will I pre-order when the requisite information comes out? I’m not sure. But BF6 looks like Battlefield is back, bigger and better.