Battlefield 6 beta update

Open beta on Steam draws hundreds of thousands while a kernel level anti-cheat blocks cheaters, signaling a tough, ongoing battle for fair play.

Battlefield 6 Beta Breaks 470K Users on Steam Its Anti-Cheat Already Stopped Over 330K Cheaters

The Battlefield 6 open beta is now available to all on Steam, and concurrent players have climbed past 470,000 according to SteamDB. With the weekend still ahead, analysts expect the figure to break 500,000 as more players join to test modes, maps, and cosmetics. Early incentives include two skins, a weapon package, and other cosmetic rewards for participation this weekend.

Battlefield 6 deploys a kernel level anti-cheat that requires Secure Boot on PC to function. The SPEAR Anti-Cheat Team reported on Steam that since Open Beta Early Access began, 330,000 cheat attempts have been blocked and thousands of players have been flagged or reported. The team notes that Secure Boot is a major barrier but not a cure, stressing that some signals can only be trusted when the feature is enabled. They also highlighted ongoing collaboration with the Battlefield Positive Play team to remove confirmed cheaters. The official launch remains set for October 10, with no quarter promised to hackers and a continued fight against cheaters as the game moves toward full release.

The large turnout for Battlefield 6 speaks to the appetite for big, competitive shooters and a strong desire for a fair playing field. The move to kernel level anti-cheat signals a broader industry trend toward tougher security, even as it raises questions about performance, compatibility, and privacy for legitimate players who must enable Secure Boot. The numbers show the problem space is real and expanding: hundreds of thousands of cheats detected, thousands of reports on day one, and a plan to scale up detections as the game ships.

This evolving arms race will define the player experience long after the beta ends. Cheaters adapt quickly, while developers must balance security with accessibility. Battlefield 6’s approach illustrates a broader tension in PC gaming between robust anti-cheat measures and ensuring a smooth, user-friendly launch for a wide audience. The test will be the launch weekend’s data, server stability, and whether the security measures foster trust without driving away ordinary players.

Highlights

Fair play remains the real prize for gamers.