(Crankers) After the long-awaited release of the “Battlefield 6” video game series, Electronic Arts announced on Thursday that this was one of their best launches yet since the beginning, in its first three days of release. It comes as a relief to the video game juggernaut, which has been struggling to revive some of the “Call of Duty” glory days.
EA has been heavily relying on the newest “Battlefield” installment to help restore the franchise’s reputation after several mixed releases and to loosen the long-standing dominance of Activision’s “Call of Duty,” now published under Microsoft’s umbrella (MSFT.O), in the competitive first-person shooter genre.
For years, “Call of Duty” has held a near-unshakeable grip on the FPS market, so EA’s ability to generate momentum with “Battlefield 6” is being closely watched across the industry.
The game officially launched on October 10, just weeks after EA agreed to a massive $55 billion sale to a Saudi-backed investor group, an acquisition driven largely by the company’s highly valuable gaming catalog. Early gameplay data is already impressive: EA reported that “Battlefield 6” players logged over 172 million matches online in the first three days, while content related to the game reached more than 15 million hours watched across major streaming platforms over the launch weekend.
EA also confirmed that the title recorded the highest number of concurrent players ever seen in a “Battlefield” game.