Battlefield 6 takes just an hour to leave Call of Duty's Steam peak in the dust

Battlefield 6 has already thrown down the gauntlet to its big rival, Call of Duty Black Ops 7, with a colossal first-hour Steam player count. Betas can be a key indication of a game's potential success, but the proof ultimately comes with the full launch, when players are asked to stump up their hard-earned cash to play. So far, it's looking like fantastic news for the EA-published shooter, which has taken just an hour to eclipse its peak playtest numbers.

You can read our Battlefield 6 review for a full breakdown of what's on offer, but the short of it is that even an underwhelming campaign isn't enough to dampen enthusiasm for one of the best multiplayer games this year. Paul calls it "the smoothest, most bombastically entertaining entry in the series to date," placing BF6 back on top of the pile with the best FPS games in Battlefield's storied history.

With a high of 521,000 players on Steam alone, the Battlefield 6 beta was certainly a big success, but 'free' is always an appealing price. Nevertheless, the hype has clearly paid off, as the full launch has reached more than 700,000 active Steam users in its first hour alone. While many are finding themselves in Battlefield 6 server queues and seeing six-figure numbers on their screens, these seem to be processing very smoothly, so just stay patient and you'll be able to play in short order.

It's also dramatically above the almost half-million lifetime high reached by rival Call of Duty on Steam, although it's worth keeping in mind here that many will be playing Activision's game via other platforms such as the Xbox App, where it's available to Game Pass subscribers.

Thankfully for anyone else wanting to join the fray, the Battlefield 6 system requirements aren't too demanding, although you will need to have Secure Boot enabled for anti-cheat purposes.

It's a huge success for Battlefield Studios and publisher EA, which just last week announced that it would be going private in a $55 billion deal struck with a consortium including Saudi Arabia's PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners.

If you're gearing up for the opening weekend, be sure to study our tier list of the best Battlefield 6 weapons, along with a rundown of all Battlefield 6 maps.

Are you all-in on BF6 this year, or are you waiting for BO7 instead? Stop by the PCGamesN Discord server and tell us which competitive shooter you're most excited about.