Battlefield 6’s latest update almost introduced a great change to XP boosts, only for developer Battlefield Studios to state it was an “error” and walk it back. Even more confusing–it’s actually the second time the exact same mistake has been made in three weeks.
As part of Battlefield 6’s June 30 update, one that overhauled the game’s gunplay and introduced a new mode, a surprising, but welcome, message greeted players who logged in: “XP Boost Update: Now Based On In-Game Time.”
Since Battlefield 6’s launch, XP boosts have counted down in real time. Considering how long it takes to find a match or load into a game, players would often lose valuable minutes of double XP for no reason at all. Someone who needed to log off while an XP boost was still active or do something quick around the house between matches was simply out of luck. A change to make XP boost count down during an actual match has been a frequent ask by the community, and it seemed like Battlefield Studios was finally listening.
The message in full read: “To improve how useful XP boosts are to you, XP boosters will now count down based on in-game time instead of real time. We will track what percentage of the length of the match you have an XP booster active, then multiply the final Match Bonus XP by the appropriate percentage for each. If your XP booster expires mid-match, don’t worry. Your match bonus will still get a boost, based on the duration that your boost was active during the match. Plus, for easier tracking and activation, the Booster menu is now located in the lobby.”
Players on Reddit reacted to the “neat surprise.” However, much to the community’s confusion, they quickly discovered nothing about how XP boosts worked in-game had actually been changed as part of the update. A Battlefield Comms social media account quickly clarified that the in-game message was in error and no changes had been made.
“That message has now been removed, and there are no changes to how XP boosters currently work,” the Battlefield Comms account stated.
Such an easy win actually being a mistake is bad enough, but that wasn’t the first time almost the exact same scenario had played out. Just a few weeks earlier on June 11, the Battlefield Comms account made a similar statement clarifying an inaccurate in-game message regarding XP boosts.
“We’re aware of an incorrect in-game text description for XP boosters that was introduced with the latest update,” the statement reads. “XP boosters count down in real time, as they have since launch.”
With two separate instances of XP boost change notification mistakes, it seems likely an actual, real change to how they work is on the way. After all, a detailed description of how XP boosts are being changed doesn’t just magically appear in game, twice, for no reason at all. The real question is why Battlefield Studios doesn’t announce such a change is still being worked on but is not quite ready just yet, instead of continually pulling the rug out from the community.
Battlefield 6 Season 3 is currently still in full swing, with its upcoming Season 4 set to bring back Wake Island for the 11th time in the franchise’s history.