Battlefield 6 reveals Season 1 plans, but its battle royale mode is MIA

The wait is almost over, folks - Battlefield 6 is just around the corner, and I for one can't wait. Even in its current, much-improved state, 2042 never felt like a true Battlefield experience, but BF6 is looking to bring things closer to the series' roots. But to truly go toe-to-toe with its major rival, Call of Duty Black Ops 7, it'll need to constantly keep things fresh with loads of new seasonal content. EA has just revealed its plans for Battlefield 6 Season 1, and while the first season of BO7 will likely beat it in terms of volume, there's a lot to get excited about.

First, let's get your calendar in order. Season 1 will not be dropping on the Battlefield 6 release date - instead, it is arriving more than two weeks later on Tuesday, October 28. Note that you won't get all of the content in one big lump - Battlefield 6 Season 1 is split into three acts, each with their own title and theme. Rogue Ops is first, followed by California Resistance on Tuesday, November 18, and then Winter Offensive on Tuesday, December 9. That means a fresh injection of content every three weeks or so.

Over the course of the season, the lineup of Battlefield 6 maps will increase by two. There's already a very generous roster of nine large-scale maps at launch, and Season 1 will add Blackwell Fields on day one with the Rogue Ops act, and Eastwood with the California Resistance act. A visual update for Empire State will also arrive in Winter Offensive, giving the New York-based map a snowy makeover. If Battlefield 6 can keep up this kind of cadence when it comes to new multiplayer maps, then I'll be one happy camper - it's a figure of speech, I don't camp… I swear…

Away from maps, several new weapons will be thrown into the mix throughout Season 1. The Mini Scout sniper rifle looks particularly intriguing - a lightweight, bolt-action sniper designed for Recon players that want to get stuck into the action, rather than sit back and pick players off at a distance. New attachments and vehicles will also be added, alongside the returning Battle Pickups feature in California Resistance. This will allow you to find extremely powerful weapons stashed within some of BF6's maps, albeit with very limited ammo.

Season 1 also brings two new game modes - Strikepoint and Sabotage. Strikepoint is a small-scale, 4v4, round-based mode with no respawns, involving two teams battling for control over an objective. Sabotage, meanwhile, is an 8v8 mode where the attacking team attempts to blow up as many objectives as they can in a given time frame, with the defending team trying to stop them. The defenders will then get a shot at attacking to see if they can outscore the other team.

One mode not mentioned in the Season 1 roadmap, however, is Battlefield 6's battle royale mode. We know one's coming, and EA has shared a few early details about what to expect, but we're still awaiting a full reveal and confirmation of a release date for it. Either it's going to be a last-minute surprise, or it's not going to be arriving in Season 1. My theory is that it's being kept as an ace up the sleeve for after the Black Ops 7 release date in mid-November. The new COD is bound to draw players away initially, and so too will Warzone after its inevitable shakeup around BO7's launch, so what better way to lure them back than with an all-new battle royale experience? That's just speculation at this stage, but it's not the craziest theory I've ever had.

Battlefield 6 Season 1 begins on Tuesday, October 28 and will be a free update for all players. Check out the full blog post announcing the new content here.

When the game drops in a few days, make sure you're ahead of the competition with some of our handy guides. Whether you want to know the best Battlefield 6 settings for PC performance, or you want to create a new loadout around one of the best Battlefield 6 guns, we'll have you covered.

Hyped for Battlefield 6? Come and let us know in the PCGamesN Discord. I'm also curious to know what your favorite Battlefield game is - just know you'll make me upset if you don't say Battlefield 3.