I’m Pre-Ordering Battlefield 6, and You Can’t Stop Me

One of the most consistent gaming movements is the “remember, no pre-orders” crowd. Though the phrasing is a nod to the iconic Modern Warfare 2 campaign mission No Russian, the logic applies to any AAA company internet users have deemed untrustworthy. Ubisoft has been hit with this criticism due to games like Watch Dogs not living up to their impressive reveals, as well as Assassin’s Creed Unity’s infamous launch. Other companies, like EA, are regularly targeted with the same comments, with Battlefield in particular being a franchise that players struggle to trust. While there are undoubtedly good reasons for this, I’ve grown tired of every bit of praise for Battlefield 6 being prefaced with or bogged down by unsolicited “advice” to not pre-order.

To be clear, Battlefield has fumbled its fair share of launches. After the beloved Battlefield 3, DICE and EA were quick to follow up with another modern shooter in Battlefield 4 – though perhaps they moved too quickly, as the game was borderline unplayable at launch. Eventually, the various bugs and netcode issues that saw players dying long after they got behind cover were patched out, and the game became beloved… only for Battlefield 2042 to have an even messier launch. While it has also been improved, the community is split at best on the game in its current state, making it hugely important that Battlefield 6 is a big win. Based on the beta, though, it seems to be just that, so it would be nice if the dooming and negativity eased up a bit.

To be clear, every gamer has a right not to pre-order. Battlefield has had its share of messy launches, so why not wait until the game has fully released to see if it is stable and meets expectations like offering large Battlefield maps? This logic is sound enough, but the issue isn’t that a fair share of players have proudly proclaimed that they’re not pre-ordering; it’s that they won’t stop saying it every chance they get and can’t help but shame those who do choose to pre-order. Well, shame away, because I have no issue saying that I pre-ordered Battlefield 6, just as I’ve pre-ordered countless games before.

Battlefield 6’s “No Pre-Order” Crowd Should Really Get Down Off Its High Horse

When looking at the reasons the “no pre-orders crowd” points to when they feel the need to preach how evil it is, a few points often come up time and time again:

Video game pre-orders encourage poor business practices.

There is “no benefit” to pre-ordering.

Those who pre-order are counting on a game to be good without getting opinions from critics or content creators.

However, all of these points can be argued against. For the argument about business practices, the issues seem obvious. First off, it makes little sense for a developer to see lots of interest in its game through pre-orders and stop trying. If anything, as shown by beloved indie titles like Stardew Valley, high player counts and an active community can inspire a developer to go further and keep the fans happy, as it’s clear that their hard work is being appreciated. And for a live-service game like Battlefield 6, a big launch is just a piece of the puzzle for a publisher like EA, as quality-of-life updates, new content, and bug fixes are all going to be essential to retain players. If anything, not pre-ordering a game like Battlefield 6 that is seemingly doing everything players have been asking for can send the wrong message to EA, as it would tell them that players don’t have all that much interest in the upcoming title.

While it makes little sense to punish an upcoming game like Battlefield 6 for the sins of a previous title like Battlefield 2042, the argument that there is “never a benefit” to pre-ordering is patently false. For starters, most games do offer special benefits, whether it be early access periods or exclusive cosmetics like Battlefield 6 will offer those who purchase the game early. While some of the old-school Battlefield audience will automatically hate skins of all kinds, others who were already planning to get the game and enjoy cosmetics may want those extra options. In addition to this, those who pre-order can pre-load games onto their consoles a few days before release, which can be a massive comfort to anyone with slow download speeds who wants to play the second a game goes live.

Lastly, there’s the final point of not being able to see reviews from critics and content creators, and this is perhaps the most flawed outlook of all to me. Sure, there can be value in getting insight from a reviewer one trusts, as well as aggregate review sites like OpenCritic that give an overall look at a game’s perceived quality. However, no opinion should matter to someone more than their own. Outrage culture has thrived because of people taking others’ views as their own without doing any critical thinking themselves, and simply parroting the opinions of those they look up to. If a creator someone watches says a game is bad, then they may never give it a chance, even though there’s a very real chance they’d love it. And when a game like Battlefield 6 allows the entire world to try it for free, waiting to hear opinions at launch makes a lot less sense.

I’ve put a full day into Battlefield 6 already, and to me, it’s clear that it’s a game I’m going to love. It’s already surprisingly stable for a Battlefield title despite the beta being an older build, as the worst issues I encountered were some lighting glitches and the occasional invisible weapon. I love the gunplay, the new drag and revive mechanic is stellar, and classes finally have an identity again. For me, it checks all the boxes in its testing phase alone, so I can’t imagine how much I’ll enjoy the full release when there’s even more content to take in. If my mind is already made up, then, what is the harm in pre-ordering? I’m telling Battlefield Studios this is the direction I want the series to go in, I’d like to have the pre-order bonuses, and I’d appreciate being able to pre-load — all perks of placing a pre-order.

Battlefield 6’s “No Pre-Order” Movement Has Already Failed

Unfortunately, sharing this outlook would be met with negativity on social media platforms from “true gamers” who look down on anyone who would dare commit the sin of pre-ordering. People get genuinely hostile about the issue, being outraged that someone would dare pre-order when they wouldn’t. Telling someone what to do with their money is normally taboo, but in this case, it’s fine for some reason. And beyond the toxicity that appears whenever someone is excited about pre-ordering, there’s a constant need to bring up the anti-pre-order agenda. It was one thing when this group was doing victory laps about the top comment on BF6’s reveal trailer being a bit of no pre-order advice, but it’s another when any sort of praise for the game has to be accompanied by something along the lines of “but I’m not pre-ordering yet, don’t worry” or “don’t pre-order, though!”

Judging the intelligence of those who proudly pre-order Battlefield 6, or other nasty replies of a similar variety, would be bad enough on their own. However, what makes these comments worse is how pointless the no pre-order fight really is. Battlefield 6 has already sold 600,000 copies on Steam, and console numbers are surely in a similar ballpark. With it sitting comfortably near the top of the Steam charts, behind only free-to-play titles and the viral indie game Peak, it’s surely going to hit a million sooner rather than later. With that many people pre-ordering like myself, continuing to bog down discussion about cool moments, constructive criticism, and the like is just an annoying waste of time – especially when it’s the same points getting repeated ad nauseam.

Perhaps all these people pre-ordering are like myself. Maybe they played the Battlefield 6 beta, loved it, and trust their own judgement over other voices online. Alternatively, maybe they like securing their copy of the game (yes, everyone knows digital copies don’t run out, you can stop saying it) while they have the extra funds at hand, as they don’t have to keep the price at the back of their mind and can just be excited. At the end of the day, I don’t care if you pre-order or don’t, I’m just comfortable with my choice. It’d be nice if more people had that mentality, because there’s so much more to talk about regarding the Battlefield franchise than this tired old debate.