Battlefield 6’s new ‘dad mode’ replaces trash-talkers with bot armies

If the pace of a first-person shooter is too much for your tired reflexes, take heart: Electronic Arts’ Battlefield 6 has added “Casual Breakthrough,” a mode where most human players are replaced with bots but experience gain isn’t really affected.

The new addition to the frenetic shooter sim was announced over the weekend on the Battlefield social media channels, which attracted thousands of comments both for and against the new mode.

Essentially, the Casual Breakthrough mode limits actual human players to just 8 per team, with 32 bots split equally between the two sides. In other words, 8 players will be teamed up with 16 bots, who presumably will simply shoot and capture objectives without “teabagging” or otherwise telling you how bad you suck or insulting your parents.

So far, EA has left “XP” progression intact as well, leaving some human players frothing at the mouth about how it will compare to a more “normal” progression. Human players in Casual Breakthrough will still be able to earn experience in the “career,” “weapon,”and “Battle Pass” modes, as well as complete challenges. Players will also accrue experiences from human actions, though bot actions will generate “reduced XP,” EA said.

What players won’t get are “dogtags” and “accolades,” nor will career stat updates be reflected in the new mode.

Surprisingly (not really) some players were outraged.

“So you’ve made my whole legit weapon grind pointless,” one wrote. “What’s the point in even working towards something anymore? This isn’t FIFA or COD, where there’s a new one every year, the grind is meant to last. Why make everything easy on a plate? Honestly, it’s put me off the whole game.”

Others took a more pragmatic view.

“And what about new players who can’t play till like Christmas or something are they supposed to just deal with getting bullied by players like you who played since day one? If you don’t wanna play it then don’t no ones forcing you to play that mode,” another commenter added.

Controversial updates to a game are usually accompanied by a promise to keep tabs on the changes, and EA also seems headed in this direction. “Let us know what you think of the new mode,” the firm wrote. “We’ll be monitoring your feedback to determine if further adjustments are needed in the future.”

In retrospect, it seems that EA telegraphed the new mode from the beginning. After all, you can drive around in a golf cart, right?