According to Battlefield Labs players, the update also brought with it some files with references to a battle royale game mode.
Battlefield Labs players have reported that the playtest of the game has gotten a new update. As spotted by Reddit user NSGXD, the Battlefield Labs Telegram group has reported that the update weighs in at 13 GB, and brings with it new features in the form of support for Nvidia’s DLSS 4 features.
Players have also reported that the update has changed the watermark present on the game from being Pre-Alpha to just being Alpha, which indicates that the studios working on Battlefield Labs are making solid progress on the title’s development. While EA itself is yet to confirm the details of the update, players have also noticed files in the game’s folders that have references to a battle royale game mode.
This would also lay further credence to a report from earlier this week where Battlefield’s global senior director of integrated communications Andy McNamara spoke about the title being on track to be revealed this summer. “The community will know when the reveal is coming,” he said when asked if the game is still on track to be revealed in June. “We are focused on Labs and preparing for the reveal this Summer.”
The next Battlefield title has been going through quite a few changes as part of its Labs playtest. Back in May, the title’s developers detailed the new class system in the game, which will also feature a few controversial changes, including the lack of weapon restrictions on classes.
Rather, the aim of the developers seems to be to promote various players with classes to pick specific weapons by giving them bonuses for using the right weapon. The system, dubbed Signature Weapon, will provide, for example, a Recon player with bonuses for using sniper rifles, like the ability to hold their breath for long-distance shots.
The plan with this new system seems to be a way for the developers to discourage players from making bad decisions with their weapon loadouts with regards to class identity and teamwork, while not outright stopping them from making those decisions. Rather, with the Signature Weapon system, Battlefield wants to give players benefits for using certain weapon types with specific classes, while not giving too many drawbacks for weapon choices that could be seen as incorrect.
It is worth noting that these features are still undergoing tests, and might even get changed up as the Battlefield Labs playtests progress further.
As the playtests have been going on, EA CEO Andrew Wilson spoke about being more optimistic about the release of Battlefield 6 in light of Grand Theft Auto 6 getting delayed to 2026.
“I’m not sure I can comment on the rest of the industry and their launches or launch timings, other than to say typically today games take many years to build and develop, and it’s unlikely that if you weren’t already ready for launch in this window, it may be hard to get ready and take advantage of which might be otherwise a less competitive window than we may have anticipated earlier,” he said during an earnings call.
