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Recommended reading Battlefield 6's open beta is already the most popular Battlefield of all time on Steam, and the platform's 44th most-played game ever After 20 hours with the Battlefield 6 beta, I believe EA has a ticking time bomb on its hands, though it's not too late to defuse it If you're doubting whether Battlefield 6 will be a hit, I was stuck in a 140,000 player queue at 9 am on a random Thursday to join a closed beta, twice Battlefield 6 isn't going to choose between closed or open weapons at launch—the dueling rulesets will coexist Battlefield 6 is making an excellent case to skip Call of Duty this year Battlefield 6: All the key details on EA's 'most ambitious' Battlefield yet Battlefield 6 devs have been 'closely tracking player behaviour' to perfect maps and change objective layouts ahead of launch Battlefield 6 EA just confirmed the most popular class in the Battlefield 6 beta, and it shines a spotlight on a major balance problem Morgan Park 21 August 2025 337 million shotgun kills later, maybe the Assault class needs a rethink. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: EA) With the Battlefield 6 beta in the rear view, EA's had some time to tally the numbers of its record-shattering playtest weekends and share some fun stats. Over the eight combined days of the beta, players caused over $196,760,386,367 in structural damage, shot down over 9 million helicopters, and zapped each other to death with defibrillator paddles over 7 million times. As for total kills? 4.9 billion, or over half of Earth's population. At least 30 million of those deaths were revived. Beyond big numbers being big, the most interesting takeaway from the graphic concerns class pick rates. While three of the classes had nearly even pick rates—Support (26%), Engineer (23%), Recon (19%)—Assault was the clear winner of the beta with a pick rate of 32%. Related Articles Battlefield 6's open beta is already the most popular Battlefield of all time on Steam, and the platform's 44th most-played game ever After 20 hours with the Battlefield 6 beta, I believe EA has a ticking time bomb on its hands, though it's not too late to defuse it If you're doubting whether Battlefield 6 will be a hit, I was stuck in a 140,000 player queue at 9 am on a random Thursday to join a closed beta, twice If you played the beta, you don't have to guess why that is: Assaults had the special ability to bring a second primary weapon, and there was no better backup to have in the beta than the overpowered pump shotgun. The shotgun was so dominant that it earned its own stat, racking up over 337 million kills. That stat also has an asterisk: "Tuning in progress." (Image credit: EA) Yes, the shotgun's low spread and high per-pellet damage were overtuned, but its prominence was a consequence of two unrelated factors of the BF6 beta: small maps and the assault class. Battlefield Studios' decision to only test small to medium maps created the perfect conditions for the shotgun. Were players forced to take the shotgun as their primary weapon, its limited range would be a liability on Liberation Peak or portions of Iberian Offensive, but that disadvantage was erased by simply picking the Assault class. The shotgun meta was also the product of BF6's default open weapons format. As BF Studios has said in earlier blogs, the Assault's weapon sling was an effort to define its role on a team, because it went ahead and erased its previous role (being the sole class with an assault rifle) by letting all classes use all weapons. If the consensus is that the third weapon sling is a bridge too far on the power curve, I wonder if BF Studios will return to the drawing board to figure out what an Assault is. Of course, over in the Shangri-La of the Closed Weapons playlists, Assaults excelled at what they said on the tin: frontline fighting with the most versatile guns in the game. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Assault had a higher pick rate in Closed Weapons simply because Engineer and Recon were sparingly deployed for actual sniping and anti-tank support. The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. That's how Battlefield was always meant to be played, after all: the unique powers of Engineers, Recons, and Supports made them specialized classes with a naturally lower pick rate than a bog-standard Assault. That class balance lives on in niche milsims that spawned from Battlefield 2, like Squad. We'll see how other factors, like the addition of a few genuinely big maps, will shake up the balance when Battlefield 6 launches on October 10. Best PC build 2025All our favorite gear 👉Check out our list of guides👈 1. Best CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 2. Best motherboard: MSI MAG X870 Tomahawk WiFi 3. Best RAM: G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32 GB DDR5-7200 4. Best SSD: WD_Black SN7100 5. Best graphics card: AMD Radeon RX 9070 Electronic Arts Morgan Park Social Links Navigation Staff Writer Morgan has been writing for PC Gamer since 2018, first as a freelancer and currently as a staff writer. He has also appeared on Polygon, Kotaku, Fanbyte, and PCGamesN. Before freelancing, he spent most of high school and all of college writing at small gaming sites that didn't pay him. He's very happy to have a real job now. Morgan is a beat writer following the latest and greatest shooters and the communities that play them. He also writes general news, reviews, features, the occasional guide, and bad jokes in Slack. Twist his arm, and he'll even write about a boring strategy game. Please don't, though. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. Battlefield 6's open beta is already the most popular Battlefield of all time on Steam, and the platform's 44th most-played game ever After 20 hours with the Battlefield 6 beta, I believe EA has a ticking time bomb on its hands, though it's not too late to defuse it If you're doubting whether Battlefield 6 will be a hit, I was stuck in a 140,000 player queue at 9 am on a random Thursday to join a closed beta, twice Battlefield 6 isn't going to choose between closed or open weapons at launch—the dueling rulesets will coexist Battlefield 6 is making an excellent case to skip Call of Duty this year Battlefield 6: All the key details on EA's 'most ambitious' Battlefield yet Latest in FPS Splitgate fans, rejoice: Peer-to-peer multiplayer is coming next week, so you can keep on playing after the servers shut down After 20 hours with the Battlefield 6 beta, I believe EA has a ticking time bomb on its hands, though it's not too late to defuse it A boundless excitement for Battlefield 6 loomed large over Call of Duty's deflating Black Ops 7 reveal Randy Pitchford says Borderlands 4 is worth $200, but he wishes 'they'd give it away' Overwatch 2 dips its toes into the horny pool with swimsuit skins and a shirtless new healer for its next season If EA won't make another Battlefield Vietnam, Hell Let Loose: Vietnam is here to pick up the slack Latest in News 'This works better than expected': Doom on a charging station looks surprisingly playable but may have the most awkward controls ever Splitgate fans, rejoice: Peer-to-peer multiplayer is coming next week, so you can keep on playing after the servers shut down Why did Team Cherry's devs stay so quiet about Hollow Knight: Silksong? 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