Battlefield Studios has changed the player count in a number of Battlefield 6 maps for the game’s frenetic Breakthrough mode. Following changes shortly after release day, player counts have been reduced, limiting how chaotic the game can feel.
Prior to yesterday’s secretive update, every Breakthrough map allowed a full 64-players to skirmish together, although, as many fans have discovered, there the game also made use of a significant number of bots to pad out lobbies.
At the time of writing, just two maps allow players to experience the game with the full 64-player count, 32 fighters per team. These maps are admittedly the game’s larger-scale maps: Mirak Valley and Operation Firestorm.
The following maps have now been reduced in player count to just 48 players, 24 per side, likely due to their smaller scale, which is also another core issue Battlefield 6 has:
- Empire State
- Manhattan Bridge
- Liberation Peak
- New Sobek City
- Blackwell Fields
- Siege of Cairo
This isn’t the first time that Battlefield 6 has put smaller player count limits on these maps. In fact, during the game’s beta and during release week, these maps already had 48-player limitations. However, shortly after launch, the developers increased the player count to bring back that classic feeling of unbridled chaos we know and love.
Nevertheless, it does make sense to reduce the player count in some of these matches. As much as I love a chaotic BF match, Siege of Cairo’s tiny streets and small buildings suffered immensely from the max player count. Additionally, New Sobek City could suffer during some rounds due to the entire player count being forced to rush and defend one building.
Honestly, Battlefield 6’s Breakthrough mostly suffers from the fact that every map is based on the already-smaller map sizes than the series is used to, and cutting those maps down to even smaller defensive locations in Breakthhrough makes that issue stand out even more. However, fans should’ve just been told that this change was happening. Communication is key.
