Battlefield 6 is Getting an Open Beta With Two Styles of Class and Weapon Customisation Options

EA has announced that its upcoming Battlefield game—rumoured to be titled Battlefield 6—is getting an open beta. Taking to social media platform X, the company has also confirmed that this open beta will allow players to choose between the classic style of Battlefield—where weapons are locked to certain classes—or with the new style—where weapons can be used by any class but the class is incentivised to use its signature weapon types.

However, the company hasn’t yet provided more details about the open beta, including when it will go live or even what sort of content we can expect from it. Considering the Battlefield franchise overall, it is likely that the open beta will include at least a couple of maps, both showing off the franchise’s two signature game modes: Conquest and Rush.

The new style of classes without weapon restrictions was announced as part of the ongoing Battlefield Labs playtests back in May. In its announcement, the company had gone into detail about why customisation was going to be one of the biggest features of the game’s classes. Theoretically, this could mean that a player that picked the Medic class could decide to stay in the back lines and offer support by using a sniper rifle.

To balance this, the game will also give players special bonuses for using specific weapon types depending on their class. For example, a Recon player with a sniper rifle will have extra benefits, like the ability to hold their breath to line up long-distance shots, over a Medic player using the same weapon.

When this was announced, the overall response had been quite negative, with one of the top comments of the time calling it the new Battlefield game’s “first big L”. Commenters noted that, due to weapon restrictions, players were incentivised to play their classes more in line with expectations that the rest of their squad might have. This means that Medic players would have to stay close to the frontlines in order to heal and support their squadmates, for example.

With this new style of class and weapon restrictions—or lack thereof—developers DICE, Ripple Effect and Criterion seemingly want to incentivise players into using the right gear without outright preventing them from making the “wrong” choices.

Earlier this week, reports came up about the title for the next Battlefield game simply being Battlefield 6. These reports came courtesy of a picture posted by content creator Doom49 of a care package they had received from EA. This package seemingly had the Battlefield 6 logo on it. The post was quickly taken down. It was, however, preserved through a timely screenshot by other social media users.

If EA has indeed begun sending out these care packages to influencers and other content creators, the company is likely close to officially unveiling the next Battlefield game. While no official announcements about this have been made so far, we might end up seeing the first real trailer, as well as the official name of the game, during Gamescom in August. This would also keep the game in line with previous statements that indicated that it would be unveiled before the end of Summer.