Xbox dropped the big announcement on October 10th as the release date for Battlefield 6. You got it right. It is on the 10th of October that we will be finally holding hands with the next big game in the Battlefield series. The announcement itself was on a single tweet that contained only a few chef kiss emojis including the date. The replies, though!
Long before time, the excitement for the Battlefield 6 was being overshadowed by this huge wave of frustrations at Xbox, regarding the Game Pass price hike. So right after the announcement, the players flooded the comment section, but instead of celebrating the announcement, they poured out their grievances on the subscription service. One user, Kyhd, said “No more gamepass,” and used the same chef emoji, which pretty much served as a catalyst for much of the things that followed.
Isn’t that wild that an entirely different issue derailed one piece of news? Hellosss18 said the trailer was “absolutely cinema,” which is for sure high praise; then followed it with “shame about that inappropriate increase in game pass.” That secret was echoed over and over. People like gabealvrs and CezrDaPleazr were furious, screaming from the mountaintops to “drop the prices” and “lower that pricing.”
There was more, someone said, “Sold my Xbox to get it on the PS5,” which goes quite far. Oops to the whiff. csspostal also announced that they will buy the game on Steam or Epic, basically when Epic asks them to, while they won’t even share a dime with Xbox.
Here’s another layer of conversations concerning the economics of gaming. Out0Rollin went all in on a reply thread, breaking down the cost of an Xbox plus a year of Game Pass Ultimate to argue it comes out to about $1000, where one could just get a decent PC. And like, it is a fair point, right? The value proposition is getting seriously questioned here.
A handful of voices came to welcome the game amidst all the uproar. Michael106622 said simply “day one,” followed by a fire emoji, and GreatStoryCorey said it was “soooo beautiful.” But with all the negativity about Game Pass about, those positive comments were near inaudible. Bobrossvictim took a harsh stand by saying Xbox is “tanking your game pass” and will “ruin your brand.”
What is quite interesting is that this backlash sort of welded the gamers into an alliance against the price bump. Several comments, including RafaGalozzi’s, lamented that their Xbox might soon be “more for backward compatibility than new games” because it is costing too much. And JamesHalliday94 begged for “Fix your mistake with Gamepass” and said they are “literally shooting yourselves in the foot” with this corporate decision.
There’s also this underlying tension regarding online play being free. “MAKE GAMING ONLINE FREE” was WildBillAIMS’s demand for years now. International crowd, meanwhile, has also weighed in – Alejandro011091 told them to basically screw off with the Game Pass price in Spanish, and playarte88 from Brazil said they canceled their Game Pass and aren’t really that interested in playing anymore.
Classic Battlefield vs Call of Duty rivalry took somewhat of a backseat to this entire Game Pass thing. IAN_PAPA700 cracked a joke, “WE ARE NOT PLAYING ON XBOX LMAOOO,” which in all seriousness, is more of a jab at the console than the game.
That brings us to the status quo: October 10th is Battlefield 6’s launch date. From the pieces of footage shown thus far, the game looks gorgeous. However, an entire section of the gaming community is still too upset about the recent Xbox Game Pass price increase to consider even buying the game, threatening a boycott, switching platforms, or resorting to piracy instead. It is such an awkward position, whereby this should actually be one of the most exciting announcements, turned into a focal point for player frustration.
Now the big question is, will Microsoft and EA manage to quell this mounting animosity before October? That’s because, at this point, the good majority of potential players are more than willing to sit this one out unless the issue of subscription pricing is handed. A classic case of corporate decisions versus player expectations, with the battlefield, well, having instead moved from the game to the comments section.
What a time to be a gamer, man! To think you would’ve been all happy about a new game being announced and ending up in the middle of a consumer revolt. All right then, mark that date, October 10th, but make sure to watch out for that Game Pass subscription if you haven’t canceled it already. The reaction… Well, to say the least, has been quite intense.
