Battlefield 6’s console crossplay matchmaking will prioritize console players, then PC players. Read on to learn more about how the cross-platform system works and the differences between Performance and Fidelity modes.
Battlefield 6 Crossplay Matchmaking, Cheating, and Quality Modes
Console "Preferred" Crossplay
Battlefield 6’s release is in less than a month, and developers from BF Studios explained more information about the game’s crossplay matchmaking. In an interview with IGN on September 12, Technical Director Christian Buhl and Senior Console Combat Designer Matthew Nickerson shared how crossplay works in the game.
Producer Alexia Christofi initially touched upon the crossplay matchmaking system of Battlefield 6 and gave a brief overview. Responding to a tweet on August 3, Christofi noted that enabling crossplay for consoles will matchmake players first with other consoles, whether PlayStation or Xbox, before including PC.
She stated, "It’s crossplay on or off – but if crossplay is on we treat it as console preferred crossplay, so we’ll try and matchmake you with others playing on the console before falling back to full crossplay if we can’t find you a match with only/mostly console players."
With the latest interview, Nickerson elaborated on the system and said, "When it comes to preference input, we have just what it sounds like: If you're a console player, we are looking for other console players in a set time frame, and then if we need to fill up the lobby more, we will look towards PC players."
He added that the team put in extra effort to balance inputs and understand how these affect different play styles and, in general, performance. Nickerson also mentioned that they have completely redone aim assist from the Battlefield 2042 version, allowing a more cohesive experience on controllers.
Prevalence of Cheaters
While crossplay is something that players expect from every online game moving forward, fans are wary of the prevalence of cheaters on PC and how it may affect the cross-platform system. Buhl said that cheating is much more rampant on PC compared to console, but emphasized that they are putting a lot of effort into combating it.
Despite EA’s new anti-cheat system with Javelin, he knows that cheating is a "never-ending cat-and-mouse game." Although this is the case, Buhl said that they are extremely aggressive on this aspect, as they see this as critical to the success and health of the game.
"I hope console players feel confident enough in what we're doing for cheating on the PC side that they don't feel like they want to turn crossplay off just for that reason. If they do want to, that is an available option for them, but we think it's super important for PC and console players to be confident that most of the people that they're playing with or against are not cheating, and we're putting a huge amount of effort into that," he stated.
Performance Mode and Fidelity Mode on PS5
In terms of game quality, Buhl expounded on the differences between Performance mode and Fidelity mode, particularly on the PlayStation 5. For performance mode, he stated that the team ensured to hit at least 80 frames per second most of the time on all platforms.
On the other hand, quality/fidelity mode turns up all the quality features with the highest resolution textures and fidelity of visual textures. However, Buhl noted that this mode will still uphold around 60 frames per second. "We didn't want just, 'Let's turn on every visual feature and then you'll get a great-looking single frame at a shitty framerate,' right? We also tuned that so that we made sure we gave the best possible visual fidelity that still hit 60 frames per second," he said.
Buhl also stated that there will be one big dial where players can express their preference on whether "'I want the highest fidelity possible but still get super smooth framerates,' or 'I want the best performance possible.'"
Meanwhile, the PS5 Pro will have both features, but run at a higher resolution. He explained, "On Fidelity Mode, we run at [2160p] instead of 1440p, and on Performance Mode, we run at [1620p] instead of, I think, 1280p. Basically, you can run it at higher resolution and still hit the same quality, is the short answer."
The settings for the PS5 are essentially similar to the Xbox Series X, but for the Series S, however, there will only be one mode as it is a less powerful console. Buhl assured fans that the game will still run 60fps at 1080p, and admitted that the team found it difficult to optimize for the Series S due to its lower memory.
In this struggle, the developers found a way to improve the entire game. In an interview with Kotaku on September 13, Buhl said that their efforts in optimizing for the Series S led them to make the "whole game better and more stable."
With Battlefield 6 just a couple of weeks away, EA is assuring fans that the game is well-optimized and that the developers are doubling their efforts to ensure they deliver the best Battlefield title in the series’ history.
Battlefield 6 is set to launch on October 10, 2025, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Steam, Epic Games, and EA App. To stay up to date with the latest information about the game, check out our article below!
Source:
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Alexia Christofi Twitter (X) post on Battlefield 6 Console Crossplay
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