DICE is hoping to but its flagship series back on top with the release of Battlefield 6, and based on several rumors released thus far, it certainly could do just that. From a massive player count and taking inspiration from Battlefield 3 to a bold World War 3 setting, the next entry in the FPS series is poised to succeed — restarting the age-old debate between whether Battlefield or Call of Duty is the superior multiplayer shooter.
While Battlefield 6 sounds promising, as DICE seems to be taking fan feedback into consideration to deliver the kind of game that series veterans want to see, the latest entry sounds great without discussing a campaign. While there have been rumors of the overused Russia vs. NATO conflict making an appearance, as well as a return of War Stories, neither have been the major source of excitement for Battlefield 6. As such, there is an argument to be made for dropping the campaign altogether, with DICE doubling down on the things that truly matter to help create an engaging experience with the next Battlefield.
While the Bad Company stories were strong and the beloved Battlefield 3 had a solid campaign centered on nuclear war, Battlefield 4 proved to be a good bit less engaging. As such, DICE pivoted with the release of Battlefield 1, giving players a new type of campaign style. Dropping a single, lengthy narrative centered on one group of characters in favor of several smaller, self-contained storylines, War Stories proved to be an effective change of pace for the Battlefield campaign style.
However, what makes Battlefield’s War Story system work has been the settings in which it has been used thus far. In Battlefield 1’s World War 1 setting, players witnessed the engaging stories of a renegade American fighter pilot and a struggling British tank crew. In Battlefield 5’s World War 2, players fought to reclaim French land and filled the shoes of a Norwegian freedom fighter. By covering different scenarios from past wars, these split storylines did not just serve as a fun way to justify showing the conflicts going on around the world, but also a way to show respect to those who served.
Throughout all of Battlefield’s War Stories, players learn of historical events through the lens of realistic fiction. While the characters themselves were made up, Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 5’s casts are based off real people and real events from their respective wars. As such, the stories are treated with care and taken seriously, with a clear tone of reverence throughout every cutscene of War Stories thus far. With this in mind, Battlefield 6 having War Stories simply does not make sense.
Supposedly set in the purely fictional time period of World War 3 and covering fully made-up characters and battles, honoring men and women for their fighting during a war that has yet to happen seems like a disservice to the War Stories of previous games. Further, with the two clear sides in Battlefield 6 seemingly being NATO and Russia, there is a likelihood that Russia’s side of the conflict will not be shown. Beyond that, even though NATO is made up of the militaries from several countries, modern day warfare sees each side of the fight wielding similar gear and weaponry — instantly stripping away some of the style and gameplay diversity seen in previous War Stories. With all these problems likely to occur, dropping the story mode of the next Battlefield title seems like a wise idea.
While DICE could simply drop War Stories in favor of a more traditional approach, it is hard to argue that Battlefield 6 having a campaign is necessary at all. Even more so than the Call of Duty series, Battlefield’s campaigns are ignored by the vast majority of the game’s player base. While this is unfortunate given the time and effort put into a story mode’s creation, simply skipping the campaign entirely to save on resources seems like a wise idea. If this is done, DICE can instead focus on adding more content for what players truly care about: the multiplayer.
If the campaign is dropped entirely, the next Battlefield could launch with more unlockable outfits and weapons, new game modes, and far more maps than it likely would if War Stories are included. Beyond that, like Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s Blackout mode, DICE can use the game’s campaign team and budget on making a quality battle royale mode. Improving on the groundwork laid by Battlefield 5’s failed Firestorm offering, while also making use of the supposedly battle royale-sized maps seen in multiplayer, a quality battle royale would see the community far more interested than a predictable campaign would.
With Battlefield 6 supposedly boasting a massive 128 player count and seeing DICE incorporating some “crazy ambitious ideas” into the game, making sure that the multiplayer portion launches smoothly should be the only priority. Dropping War Stories to allow every developer to help with the game’s online modes could ensure a smooth launch, avoiding the performance bugs and netcode problems seen when Battlefield 4 launched. Battlefield is a series built on the large-scale warfare seen its engaging multiplayer, and DICE should prioritize that with this release.
Battlefield 6 is in development.
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