Battlefield 6 Open Beta Weekend 2
Credit: EA
Battlefield 6 is the talk of the town. After a hugely successful Open Beta weekend, the Battlefield community and first-person shooter fans are buzzing with excitement. EA and DICE’s popular shooter has been in a rut for years. The last big success story in the franchise was 2016’s excellent Battlefield 1, but that game took place in WW1. There hasn’t been a modern-day Battlefield since 2013’s Battlefield 4, and arguably that game wasn’t quite as good or as popular as 2011’s Battlefield 3.
Battlefield 6 takes players back to modern-day, away from the historical shooters (Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 5) and the futuristic setting of Battlefield 2042. It’s been over a decade, and players are ready. Delta Force almost scratched that itch, but rampant cheating and other issues have made the game almost unplayable. The first weekend of Battlefield 6’s open beta was an incredibly promising start, and now we’re about to dive back in for more.
The game outpaced all Call Of Duty titles on Steam in its first free weekend, with over 520,000 concurrent players. Over 5 million players reportedly played the beta in Weekend 1 across all platforms, including PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Steam, Epic Games Store and the EA App. Weekend 2 could be even bigger thanks to the hype.
Here’s when the second weekend kicks off and what to expect.
What Are The Battlefield 6 Open Beta Dates?
There’s no Early Access portion of the open beta like there was for the first weekend, so all players on all platforms will play at the exact same times.
Open Beta Weekend 2 – Thursday, August 14th – Monday, August 18th
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- Start-Time: 8:00 UTC (1 am PT / 4 am ET)
- End-Time: 8:00 UTC (1 am PT / 4 am ET)
Here’s the Open Beta trailer:
What Platforms Is The Open Beta Available On?
Battlefield 6 will not be available on older consoles like the PS4 and Xbox One, nor is the game – with its impressive graphics and destructible environments – coming to Nintendo Switch. The game and the Open Beta will be available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam, Epic Games Store and the EA App.
These are the minimum and recommended specs for PC players:
Battlefield 6 PC Specs
Credit: EA
PC players will also need to enable Secure Boot in order to play the full game and the Open Beta. This, along with EA Javelin Anticheat, is designed to prevent cheaters from ruining the experience for everyone else. For help with the Secure Boot process, go here.
What Maps And Modes Will Be Available During The Open Beta?
During the first weekend, players were able to play across three maps and several modes. The maps included:
- Siege Of Cairo – a mostly urban map with plenty of close-quarters exchanges.
- Liberation Peak – a rural map that takes place in the mountains of Tajikistan, with lots of open areas and potential for aerial combat.
- Iberian Offensive – another urban map set in the streets of Gibraltar.
On weekend 2, we get a fourth map:
- Empire State – this one takes place closer to home, with gunfights taking place across the streets of Brooklyn.
Weekend 1 modes included Conquest, Breakthrough and Closed Weapons Breakthrough, as well as Domination and King Of The Hill, which was added later. Closed Weapons modes restricted weapons to classes, while all other modes made weapons open to all classes. Read more about that here.
On Weekend 2, Rush and Deathmatch will also join the rotation. There’s no word on when the free-to-play Battlefield 6 battle royale mode will launch or whether it will be part of an upcoming beta.
A number of free rewards were unlockable during Weekend 1, including Soldier Skins, Weapon Packages and other cosmetics. These are not available to use in the beta, but will be available when the game launches on October 10th. Weekend 2 adds several more rewards including the War Machine Vehicle Skin, Striking Distance Weapon Package and Bat Company Dog Tag (a play on Bad Company, another great Battlefield game).
The developers have indicated that unlike Call Of Duty, Soldier Skins will be more grounded and we should not expect Beavis and Butthead or other Fortnite-style skins.
“It has to be grounded. That is what BF3 and BF4 was—it was all soldiers, on the ground. It’s going to be like this,” design director Shashank Uchil said in an interview recently. “I don’t think it needs Nicki Minaj. Let’s keep it real, keep it grounded.” Uchil is throwing shade at Activision’s Call Of Duty franchise, which released – and later took down – a skin of the celebrity in Modern Warfare II.
Known Issues
DICE published an official list of known issues affecting players during the first weekend. It’s unclear how many of these will be resolved in time for the second weekend and players should expect to see more. The most annoying bug I encountered was my weapon and arms completely disappearing, making aiming next to impossible and making it hard to see when a weapon reload animation was complete. I don’t see the bug on the list, but I know other players have experienced it as well. Here’s the full list of known issues.
Soldier:
- The primary weapon deploy function is currently delayed during sprint
- Players are unable to ping enemies when they are using stationary weapons
- Sometimes, a takedown is not performed even if the prompt is present in HUD
- The player is currently unable to ping or spot whilst in any vehicle
- Users transition to the first perspective if they redeploy while driving from an open-seat vehicle
- Character attach to the zipline and riding animations are currently work in progress
- Spamming the mount weapon function will exit a player from prone if they are in prone
- Aim assist when the player is close to smoke is work in progress
- The player can sink into the ground after reviving a teammate
Weapons and Gadgets:
- All barrel slot attachments have a placeholder in the description
- All machine gun weapons have a placeholder in the description
- Several weapons’ back iron sight clip through the camera when firing in ADS if customized with some scopes
- Incorrect names are present for Scopes in Loadout
Weapon Recoil in Open Beta
While not present within the Open Beta, a series of balance passes have already taken place around weapon recoil; however, they were not able to be included in the open beta build in time. The team is consistently paying attention to feedback around all things weapons, and we’ll continue to keep players updated at a later point about more details specific to weapon balancing and gameplay.
UI/UX:
- The ‘Close Map’ button is non-functional upon opening the map in-game
- Soldier supply providers are missing an animation
- Settings which feature slider UI elements are currently work in progress and will be refined
- Out of bounds elements for air vehicles (diagonal stripes) are not present on the Capstone overview map
- The icon for a Spotted Vehicle is not currently present
- Game Mode Widget objective icons disappear while having selected another user who leaves the server
- Pick up prompt is missing on some gadgets
- The ability to bind crouch to a different key away from C is currently not functioning as intended, even if you rebound a different key C will still function as crouch.
Maps & Modes:
- Distorted VFX or mirage/water effects can be seen in the Firing Range for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC
- Capstone has some missing lighting elements, causing darker than intended areas
- Barbed wire throughout the Capstone does not damage or slow the player
- Zipline ropes don’t have a proper texture
Settings & Functionality:
- The Big Map opacity slider within settings is not functional
- Dual Sense’s vibration is currently not functioning via Bluetooth
Client:
- Upon loading the Open Beta on PlayStation 5 some users may experience a “ID OptionsModify” screen, this is due to a language not being the same as intended for this Open Beta version.
We advise the following workaround to resolve this issue:
- Delete your install of Battlefield Open Beta.
- Delete the Saved Data attached to that install.
- Change your console language to English.
- Freshly reinstall the Battlefield Open Beta and get on the Battlefield.
Crash Awareness:
- Players may experience a crash on the splash screen, which states “D3D12CreateDevice” failed.
- This can be resolved by repairing the game.
- Players may experience a crash on the splash screen without any errors.
- You need to disable Force randomization for images (Mandatory ASLR) globally or add an exception for bf6event.exe:
- Disable globally (requires PC restart):
- Open Windows Security → App & browser control → Exploit protection settings – Under System settings, turn Force randomization for images (Mandatory ASLR) Off
- Restart your PC and launch the game again.
Bugs aside, I had a great time with the first Open Beta weekend (it’s a beta, so bugs forgivable). I can’t wait to try out more maps and modes this weekend. Here’s the Battlefield 6 multiplayer reveal trailer:
Battlefield 6 launches on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC on October 10th, 2025.
