I know, I know. I’m sick of this age-old Battlefield-Call of Duty fight that’s taken place over the past decade-plus. But we’re headed for another clash of the FPS titans this fall.
Battlefield 6 will drop in October, followed shortly after by Black Ops 7 some time in November, so players will have to make a choice which game to give the most of their time and money to. And as for how early signs go, BF6 is showing it may be the more refined title already for one big reason.
Battlefield Labs has been an important part of BF6’s development thus far. Many players have been testing the game since at least February, if not earlier, and feedback has already been implemented on some of the game’s growing pains, according to EA.
For example, one of BF6’s new gadgets is a Weapon Sling that allows players to carry multiple primary guns, but players haven’t been fans of how it feels, so the developers are making a move to tweak it.
“Following feedback from Battlefield Labs participants, it was clear that players felt the earliest iterations of the Weapon Sling Gadget was intruding upon Class Identity with its ability to use Double Assault Rifles, or any other Signature Weapon and we agreed,” DICE said today. “As stated in our second Community Update on Classes, this is being addressed.”
With the feedback given, BF6 players will now no longer be able to use two assault rifles, LMGs, or sniper rifles, but Carbines, DMRs, and shotguns will be usable in that second slot. As ever, though, the BF6 devs say “balance continues to change throughout Battlefield Labs and beyond.” This is good stuff from EA.
And in turn, this is a spot where BO7, and CoD games in general, are lacking. Sure, there are small-scale private playtests where players give feedback to help the games in development, but I can’t help but feel like something more ongoing and similar to Battlefield Labs would help CoD launch more smoothly.
We’ve seen it time and time again when a yearly CoD game launches in a sorry state for one reason or another, and it takes several updates with player feedback in tow to help bring it in line with what the community wants. Something like CoD Labs would help alleviate these annual pains, I think. The situation is obviously exacerbated by a new CoD dropping every 12 months, but more feedback from a wider berth of players feels like it could help.
BO7 will follow BF6 with its own beta some time this fall, and both games will become better for it. But why not have some more assistance along the way with a Labs-like feature for CoD? Sure, leaks are going to happen, but let’s be honest…they happen anyway.
Like the Splitgate 2 guy said, let’s make FPS games “great again”…but with some help from the community. In theory, at least for now, BF6 is looking to be a better game because of it, so I wish CoD would follow suit.
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