Battlefield 6’s Secure Boot requirement on PC caused more than a few headaches for players during the game’s recent open beta, and while the game’s technical director laments the need for it, he also said it’s “one of the strongest tools in our toolbox to stop cheating.”
In an interview with Eurogamer, Battlefield 6 technical director shared some insight into the need for the Secure Boot requirement and his feelings on it. He said even though it caused some to be unable to play (GameSpot even put together a guide on how to turn on Secure Boot), it’s needed to ensure a “fair play experience” and that, overall, the team is happy with how the anti-cheat performed during the beta.
“The fact is I wish we didn’t have to do things like Secure Boot,” Buhl said. “It does prevent some players from playing the game. Some people’s PCs can’t handle it and they can’t play: that really sucks. I wish everyone could play the game with low friction and not have to do these sorts of things.”
However, Bruhl stressed the need for Secure Boot, which is used by Battlefield 6’s kernel-level anti-cheat to stop bad actors from ruining the fun for everyone else.
“Unfortunately these are some of the strongest tools in our toolbox to stop cheating,” Bruhl said. “Again, nothing makes cheating impossible, but enabling Secure Boot and having kernel-level access makes it so much harder to cheat and so much easier for us to find and stop cheating.”
EA previously said that Secure Boot, something Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 will also require, isn’t a “silver bullet” against cheaters but is “another barrier” that makes it harder for cheat creators to develop cheats and easier for EA to detect them.
Developer Battlefield Studios recently outlined how it will be making changes to Battlefield 6 based on player feedback from the beta, one of which is a nerf to the game’s shotgun. A new Battlefield Labs playtest set to begin this week looks to include some of the things players have been asking for, including bigger maps and a server browser.
