Battlefield 6 - Community Update - New Maps, Features, and More

• What’s Next for Battlefield 6

• Custom Lobbies and Spectator Mode
• Proximity Chat
• Maps in Season 5
• Server Browser and Matchmaking
• Platoons
• Multiplayer Leaderboards
• Multiplayer Ranked
• Weapon, Vehicle, and Gadget Balance

More from the Discord Q&A

Continuing the Work

Hey everyone,

Season 4 is now underway, bringing Naval Warfare, Tsuru Reef, and a new chapter for Battlefield 6. Since our last roadmap update in June, several features and improvements have moved closer to release, and with more arriving throughout the season, we want to share the latest on what players can expect next.

• August - Season 4 Phase 2: Custom Lobbies, Spectator Mode, Wake Island
• September - Season 4 Phase 3: Proximity Chat
• Winter - Season 5: Platoons, Server Browser, Multiplayer Leaderboards, three new maps

We also recently brought developers from across Battlefield Studios together for another Battlefield Discord Live Q&A \[[url="discord.gg/battlefield"]discord.gg/battlefield ]. Over the course of the scheduled 60-minute Q&A session, the team answered 50 questions on Season 4 and beyond.

What’s Next for Battlefield 6

There is plenty more ahead for Battlefield 6, from features arriving later in Season 4 to new maps, social tools, and other updates planned for Season 5. Below is a closer look at what is coming next, including new testing milestones and ways players will help shape these experiences through Battlefield Labs.

Custom Lobbies and Spectator Mode

Custom Lobbies and Spectator Mode are arriving with Season 4 Phase 2: Top Gun on August 18 through Battlefield Labs in Live.

Building on the foundations of Portal, Custom Lobbies will give hosts more direct control when setting up and running a match. Hosts will be able to assign players to specific teams, adjust select match settings, and organize private sessions or community tournaments, with Spectator Mode providing ways to follow the action.

Initial support will include Battle Royale Quads and Conquest, with additional modes planned as the feature expands. More information on these features will be shared in a future article before the Top Gun update launches.

Proximity Chat

The first iteration of Proximity Chat is coming with Season 4 Phase 3: Tidal Strike on September 15 through Battlefield Labs in Live.

It will initially be available in Battle Royale, creating new opportunities for coordination and unexpected interactions between nearby players and squads.

Launching the feature through Battlefield Labs in Live will help us evaluate audio range and clarity, player controls, moderation tools, and the feature’s broader effect on the flow of a round. Player feedback and live-game data will shape the adjustments we make before bringing Proximity Chat to Multiplayer at a later date.

Maps in Season 5

Look beyond Season 4, Season 5 will introduce three new maps, as outlined in our 2026 roadmap. Testing on these maps is already underway in Battlefield Labs, giving us an early opportunity to gather feedback and refine each experience ahead of release.

We are not ready to reveal where these new battles will take place just yet, but we can share more about the experiences they are being designed to deliver. One will focus more closely on infantry combat, while the other two will support the larger-scale, combined-arms warfare at the heart of Battlefield.

In addition to those three new maps, reworks of Blackwell Fields and New Sobek City are currently planned to launch later in Season 5.

Before those updates reach the live game, we will begin testing them through Battlefield Labs. This will give players an opportunity to experience the changes early and help us evaluate the updated layouts, objective flow, traversal, and balance between infantry and vehicles.

Server Browser and Matchmaking

Server Browser will enter Battlefield Labs testing ahead of its planned release in Season 5 as part of Phase 3, giving players an early opportunity to try the feature and help us refine the experience.

We are also exploring how the Server Browser can support a more persistent match flow, make it easier to remain with other players between rounds, and complement the existing matchmaking experience.

We will share a closer look at the Server Browser interface and the options available for finding servers as Battlefield Labs testing approaches. For now, here’s what we can share with you on our progress.

Server Browser will provide another way to find matches, but it is not intended to replace the work underway on matchmaking itself.

Matchmaking remains one of the most frequently discussed areas within the community, particularly around match quality and consistency. Our teams are investigating concerns such as matches starting or backfilling with too many bots, significant differences in ticket counts, and players being placed in high-ping matches.

These concerns involve several interconnected systems. Once we have clear findings to share, we plan to publish a dedicated update outlining what our investigation has identified and how we intend to improve the experience.

Platoons

Platoons also remain on track for Season 5 Phase 3.

At launch, players will be able to create or join a Platoon and use new tools to represent and organize their group in-game. This initial release will establish the foundation for Platoons in Battlefield 6, with more opportunities to expand its social and community features over time.

Multiplayer Leaderboards

Multiplayer Leaderboards remain on track for the launch of Season 5.

Building on the systems introduced with Ranked Battle Royale, this feature will give players new ways to track performance and compare their progress across Multiplayer. We will share more details on the available categories and how the system will work closer to release.

Multiplayer Ranked

Development of Multiplayer Ranked is progressing, informed by what we learned from the launch of Ranked Battle Royale in Season 3 and how players continue to engage with the ranked experience throughout the seasons. The team is evaluating the rules and supporting systems needed to create a competitive experience that works at Battlefield’s scale.

While we don’t have a firm release window just yet, the team is continuing to evaluate the right time to introduce Multiplayer Ranked. We will provide another update as development progresses.

Weapon, Vehicle, and Gadget Balance

Recent gunplay changes in Season 3 have landed positively overall. In our Community Survey, sentiment around Weapon Balance increased by 23 points from June to July, turning from a negative to a positive feature.

We are also reviewing gameplay data to better understand how those changes are affecting combat. Early indicators suggest that average time-to-kill has increased and that players who win engagements are taking more damage than before, giving opponents more opportunity to respond.

These are encouraging signals, but they do not tell the full story. Performance can vary considerably between weapons, engagement ranges, and different parts of the player base, so we are continuing to monitor the data and player feedback before drawing broader conclusions or making further changes.

Our balance work also extends beyond weapons. We are reviewing vehicle combat and the effectiveness of gadgets, including how these systems interact with infantry play and with one another across different modes.

We're actively monitoring the balance of these areas alongside the new content planned for the remainder of Season 4 and into Season 5. We want the combat experience to continue to evolve based on your feedback and will share details along with in-depth Battlefield Combat articles once decisions are finalized.

More from the Discord Q&A

During our recent Battlefield Discord Live Q&A, developers from across Battlefield Studios answered as many community questions as possible. Thank you to everyone who joined us and submitted questions.

Below, we have included all of the questions answered during the live discussion. We are also reviewing the questions we did not have time to reach and will look for opportunities to address more of those topics through future Community Updates, Update Notes, and other Battlefield channels.

Some questions have been edited or combined from their original Discord posts for brevity and readability.

Question: Are there any plans to add actual glow to weapon sights similar to BFV?

Answer: We are currently working on improvements to our reticle system that should improve their visibility against different environments. We are currently in testing phase and we hope to get the changes out as soon as the changes are ready.

Question: What is the progress of New Sobek City and Blackwell Fields map reworks? Will these be available to play in Labs in the near future?

Answer: These are on track to be released later in Season 5. We’ll be testing both in Battlefield Labs imminently and will be telling you more about the evolution and changes we’re bringing later in Season 4.

Question: About the upcoming Phantom Program event in Season 4, are we going to complete a set of challenges, or do we have to find or complete some Easter Eggs like in the past?

Answer: It’s a mix of both! The system is built around challenges, but to unlock or complete them, you’ll need to track down and solve Easter eggs across Fort Lyndon

Question: With air radar fixed and server browser coming, two hot features are now accounted for in the game. What's the next hot feature that players can start getting excited for?

Answer: Custom Lobbies are an evolution of Portal. When the feature goes live in Phase 2 on August 18, players will be able to enable an interface that lets hosts assign players to specific teams and customize some match settings live. This will allow players to host their own tournaments and private matches, including Spectator Mode capabilities. The support for the modes will be rolling out gradually, and in the initial release, we are supporting Battle Royale Quads and Conquest in Battlefield Labs in Live.

Question: Is there a chance that we may see levolution added to the game that’s akin to Battlefield 4 and why wasn’t it in BF6?

Answer: Our vision is targeted set-piece destruction. We want to deliver massive, tactical destruction events that reshape combat zones and sightlines, without changing the fundamental identity or flow of the map. Keep an eye out in Season 5!

Question: I noticed in the roadmap it said proximity chat for REDSEC was going to be tested. Is it also coming to regular Battlefield? I think this is what most of us were hoping for with prox chat.

Answer: Yes. So proximity chat is coming with Phase 3 of Season 4 for Battle Royale in REDSEC. The current plan is to then bring proximity chat to Multiplayer at a later date. From there, we'll monitor how it's behaving during live REDSEC gameplay matches to help inform future iterations.

Question: Can you tell us more about platoons?

Answer: Platoons is a great feature that we will be introducing in Season 5. We will be talking about it later in Season 4

Question: When will we get a new REDSEC map and what kind of features will the developers add to it? Are you more interested in adding water gameplay to REDSEC or will it be more centred around land warfare?

Answer: We are looking to continue to update the current Fort Lydon Map with fun and interesting new POIs. Continued evolution of the new water focused gameplay elements will land in REDSEC full force with the new Carrier POI in Phase 2 of Season 4.

Question: What content will be coming to Portal throughout Season 4? Will aircraft carriers become an asset available for creators to use? And will there be new tools coming to Portal?

Answer: We'll be bringing all the Season 4 maps to both verified and custom modes. As for new features, keep an eye on the community update blogs, where we'll announce these when they're ready to launch.

Question: Is there a plan to put Elite 250 and higher end Master ranks in their own matches so they aren’t in the mix with lower ranks trying to progress but can’t due to fighting these players?

Answer: This is something we do want to improve in the future, but we don't have a specific timeline yet to address this.

Time to matchmake in matches is something that is impacted by this and we are working to find the proper solution.

Question: Many players seem to want more atmospheric weather and night maps rather than just large scale events. Is this something the team is actively considering?

Answer: We definitely hear the feedback on dynamic weather and night maps! While we continue to explore options for new maps, you can dive into great night combat right now in Battlefield Portal. Check out Night Ops Conquest, created by ViperStudioAndy (Experience code: 1XVU6)!

Question: With the implementation of free diving, is there any plans for the Portal map editor to give a tool to set a water level which would allow map creators to flood maps?

Answer: For our new maps focused on naval gameplay, we are working on adding the ability to modify the water level. Our target release date is later in Season 4. Extending that to all other maps would be a new feature that we're considering adding in future seasons.

Question: Are there any updates on the main battle tank, and adding more weapon options to it or bringing back canister shell?

Answer: We have a specific fix for the Anti-Personnel Shell exploit coming later in Season 4 and a longer-term solution for the underlying issue in a future update. We are also looking at the mix of ammo types and weapons for the MBT and IVF for future balance and possible new types.

Question: Are battlefield pick ups supposed to exist? Are they coming back? Are we getting more of them? Can we get clear and direct communication about them? I got a mini gun on Eastwood once last season and never saw it there again.

Answer: There were some balance and quality issues when these were first released, but we've taken a tuning and improvement pass on these and will be re-introducing them in existing and future maps.

Question: As the team plans future content, would you consider prioritizing more substantial releases like we used to get in prior games, such as Battlefield 3 and 4 Premium edition, rather than spreading limited number of maps, vehicles, and features across multiple seasons? We used to get up to 4 large maps, multiple guns and vehicles and other gameplay features, within every update/package release.

Receiving only one brand new map this season that has no dynamic weather, with a limited number of weapons and vehicles, is very lacking compared to what we used to get.

Answer: There's plenty of content coming in Season 4 - Wake Island as another new map, Carrier Strike, Fighter Sweep, Custom Lobbies, Spectator mode, Prox Chat... and our massive Top Gun collaboration coming in Phase 2 on August 18.

We'll follow this up with a huge Season 5 coming later in the year, with 3 new maps and our reworks of Blackwell Fields and New Sobek City too, Platoons and more surprises.

There's so much more to come!

Question: Will Commander Mode ever be a thing again in BF6?

Answer: No plans to bring Commander Mode into Battlefield 6 at this moment in time, though the community has been crafting away within Battlefield Portal and you could get hands-on with it via Experience Code: 1ZXUU by Nodone.

Question: My question is regarding the two new modes coming in the second phase, Carrier Strike and the new Gauntlet mode, will they be permanent?

Answer: Carrier Strike will launch alongside Season 4, Phase 2 - Top Gun, and Fighter Sweep will be a new mission added to Gauntlet during that time as well.

Our new modes are not immediately planned to be permanent modes so we can first review how these modes resonate with our players. Beyond that, we have the option to rotate modes in and out and add them to more maps based on player feedback.

Question: Is there a possibility that Portal could see all building materials/ blank slates in Portal?

Answer: Technical limitations of our engines prevent us from offering a true "blank slate" where builders have access to every asset on a single map. Over time, we hope to release multiple builder-centric maps that offer a good option for builders who want a clean slate to build on, but each of these will be limited to a specific biome-limited set of assets. As we're able, we are strategically adding a few assets to the core set, which makes them available across all maps. That set has a very limited size, though, so we have to carefully vet the asset selection to make sure each one is valuable across many experiences.

Question: Do you have any kind of timeframe to fix the netcode? Currently, the netcode is in far more awful condition than that of Battlefield V, and it is making the game unplayable. We have been given multiple assurances before, but a concrete timeframe would be nice.

Answer: We are constantly evaluating and working to improve the netcode in Battlefield 6 and REDSEC. We have made many tweaks and improvements since Season 2, and are always looking to make further improvements based on player feedback and gameplay data from live matches to ensure the game is as fair as it can be.

Question: Will there be jet loadouts and improvements in Season 4? With the new jets coming and the Top Gun collab, I think it would be appropriate to finally improve the overall jet experience.

Answer: The F/A-81F Super Spectre is the new 2 Seater Jet for Season 4, Phase 2 and will have a fully customizable loadout. We have plans for the other jets but can't give a timeline quite yet, we'll share more when we get closer to the time.

Question: Any update on Strikepoint?

Answer: We are working on improving the mode and are planning to update it in a future season!

Question: I love how the new Portal allows for so many possibilities and keeps expanding with new content, such as maps and vehicles. I can’t wait to see how the carriers might be used! Unfortunately, every time I join one of the featured experiences, network issues like rubber-banding severely degrade the gameplay experience. Is there any outlook as to when this might be improved?

Answer: With the range of options available to our builders, there are many reasons a given experience might not perform well at scale. It could be that the creator has added more vehicles than the physics system can keep up with, or maybe they're doing something very complicated with the UI that starts to bog down the script execution on the server. We've been happy to see that the builder community has helped one another find and share with one another what the limits are for creating experiences that perform well.

While we test experiences internally before featuring them, some of these performance issues only emerge when we massively scale up the number of players on a given experience. We've improved our internal testing and selection processes to make sure we're only featuring experiences that offer the gameplay performance you expect from Battlefield, and we're constantly trying to help the builder community understand how they can improve their creation practices to make more performant, feature-worthy experiences.

Question: Could you share the dates and format for the REDSEC Open and Elite Series? Also, how do you see the overall future of Battle Royale as an esports discipline?

Answer: We cannot share the exact dates just yet, but we hope to be announcing when these events will be kicking off in the near future. Stay tuned!

Question: Operations, from what I can tell, was insanely popular in Season 2 and players seem to want that mode back. It didn't come back for Season 3, is it going to come back soon? Are there any changes in the works for it? Since Breakthrough and Operations are so similar, would you consider replacing Breakthrough with Operations?

Answer: Operation Augur will continue returning on a regular basis as part of our featured playlist rotation. Beyond that, we hear the enthusiasm for the mode and have bigger plans for Operations coming in future seasons!

Question: Are there plans to do another balance pass on air vehicles, jets, attack heli and littlebird especially? As one example, the Littlebird, especially the light rockets on it seem far too effective in the current live game.

On Tsuru reef, the littlebird can kill everything extremely fast.

Answer: Balance across our hardware such as vehicles, gadgets and weapons is ongoing throughout the Seasons of Battlefield 6 and REDSEC. Some changes coming in Season 4 improve the survivability of the RCB-90 and Armored Transport vehicles vs the Scout Helicopter. We'll continue to update you throughout our Community Updates and Game Update Notes when we get closer to these changes going live.

Question: Is there more content planned for after Season 5? You guys have been putting out fire with the last couple seasons, I'd hate to see it cut short.

Answer: With Season 4, Phase 2 - Top Gun on the horizon, and our biggest season yet in Battlefield 6 and REDSEC coming in Season 5, we feel we are just getting started! More seasons will follow with new and exciting content beyond Season 5.

Question: Are Spectator Mode and Custom Lobbies going to be available for Custom modes in Portal or only for Verified ones?

Answer: We are trying to add support for both Spectator mode and Custom Lobbies to work in conjunction with our new Custom Lobby feature. Custom Lobbies and Spectator mode were developed with our core modes in mind, so they don't always work smoothly with all the aspects of what builders can build in Portal Custom experiences. As a result, using these features together may create some hiccups or unpredictable results.

As with all things Portal, though, we want to let the community experiment and figure out the level of quality you're satisfied with. That way we can be strategic about adding more support for the things you like best in future seasons.

Question: Any chance the TTK/TTD will get a change in the future along with footstep audio being fixed/improved? Currently the TTK is too fast and the audio for footsteps are very inconsistent and its hard to identify where enemies come from.

Answer: We continue to test and iterate across different areas of gunplay and movement as well as balancing to get the TTK/TTD to a sweet spot. We're continuing to look at player feedback around audio. We'll continue to make further refinements as all of these are high focus areas for us.

Question: Is there a chance that you are going to make something similar to the 2026 Roadmap for 2027 too?

Answer: We are committed to Battlefield 6 and REDSEC continuing after Season 5, and we look forward to sharing more about the future towards the end of the year.

Question: Will the supression return to what it was like in previous games?