As launch day for Battlefield 6 approaches, fan communities have hotly debated some of the new features and changes coming to the game. For instance, after early tests revealed that the game would have “open” classes that shared weapon arsenals, many players called for a return to the “locked” classes of past entries in the series. In a new interview, the developer explained its approach and promised that game modes featuring both types of classes would be in the game.
Historically, many Battlefield games have centered around classes that have unique weapon sets in addition to abilities and items. Especially for fans of the Bad Company games or Battlefield 3 and 4, classes with distinct weapon sets made the series feel distinct from other first-person shooter franchises. However, the developer has moved away from this system in recent games and will implement fully open classes in Battlefield 6–at least in certain game modes.
Speaking to IGN, Ripple Effect’s console combat designer Matthew Nickerson shared that the developer’s goal is to be as agnostic as possible to choices such as open or locked classes. In essence, the team’s approach is to support different options in Battlefield 6’s Portal and other game modes, providing the foundation within which players can choose the type of gameplay they want.
“We don’t really want to make a decision or really pigeonhole how you want to experience Battlefield,” Nickerson said. “I know we’re supporting both open and closed weapon sets in Portal and in different game modes… We want to support both [open and locked classes] moving forward, and again, a key mantra for Battlefield 6 is, ‘Play Battlefield how you want to,’ so we’re making sure we support both open and closed systems. We just don’t want to make the decision for the player.”
It’s worth noting that during the open beta, the developer only featured one mode with locked classes and it was a bit hidden from view. We’ll likely have to wait for the final release to see exactly how this is implemented and to what extent the developer is supporting both styles of gameplay. In the meantime, we may be getting information on the game’s single-player mode at Tokyo Game Show later this month. Battlefield 6 will launch on October 10 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
