Battlefield 6 continues to struggle amidst lacklustre updates and, recently, a wave of layoffs. The game, which was billed as a turning point for the popular FPS franchise, hit rocky terrain shortly after it launched in October 2025, and it has found it tough to gain any meaningful traction since.
The game’s player count is dropping quite consistently, and it was recently noted by some fans that it’s being beaten by one of its closest competitors. On Steam, Delta Force, which resembles Battlefield in many ways, had more than three times as many players as Battlefield 6, at the time of writing.
Delta Force On Top
When Delta Force was revealed (then known as Delta Force: Hawk Ops), it was labelled a ‘Battlefield clone’, and for good reason. It looked, felt, and played like Battlefield 2042, right down to the class system, UI, setting, and gameplay loop.
However, as time has gone on, Delta Force, which was released in early access in December 2024, has only gotten stronger. It recently underwent its eighth major content drop, and a steady supply of content, exciting extraction modes, and a solid, global player base have all contributed to the game’s growth.
At the time of writing, Delta Force boasted 122,480 players on Steam. Battlefield 6, on the other hand, had just 35,874. Even Marathon, the somewhat beleaguered extraction title from Bungie, was on the cusp of beating Battlefield 6, touted by many as being the revitalization of the age-old shooter series.
While Delta Force was sitting pretty in ninth place overall on Steam, Battlefield 6 occupied a space further down the board in 44th place, around three weeks after the game’s last major update.
Many are now concerned about the future of Battlefield 6, but what do you think? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Marathon’s player count woes have been addressed by other developers
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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BF6 is a bad game even though every person and outlet hyped it up to no end at launch.