Battlefield 6 Devs Tell 'Movement Kids' to Get Bent, Nerf CoD-Style Sliding
In a move that’s music to the ears of anyone who prefers their shooters to be more "boots on the ground" than "cocaine-fueled bouncy castle," Battlefield Studios has announced it’s cracking down on the hyperactive movement that plagued the Battlefield 6 beta. After players complained that the movement felt less like Battlefield and more like a cheap Call of Duty knockoff, the developers are making significant changes to create a "more balanced and traditional Battlefield experience". In other words, the slide-canceling sweats are being put on notice.
Putting the Brakes on 'Squirrely' Movement
In an official "Open Beta Debrief," the studio laid out its plans to sand down the game's rough, twitchy edges. The ridiculous horizontal speed players could get by chaining slides into jumps is being significantly reduced. This is partly a bug fix, as players quickly found ways to pull off absurd "super jumps" across the map, but it's also a clear philosophical choice. Additionally, they're adding a "greater penalty for consecutive jumps," which will lower your jump height if you try to spam it like there’s no tomorrow.
No More Ice-Skating Gunfights
More importantly, Battlefield Studios is targeting the accuracy of players who jump and slide while shooting. Vets of the series rightly argued there was little to no penalty for firing while sliding into a room or hopping around a corner, staples of the so-called "movement kids" who infest other shooters. The developers agreed.
The new changes will result in "increased inaccuracy" when firing during these maneuvers. The goal, they say, is to make sliding and jumping "more situational" so they aren't the best way to win every single gunfight. They want to reward skillful movement without turning the game into the chaotic mess seen in the beta, where players could effectively ice skate across the map while maintaining perfect aim.
A Clear Shot at Call of Duty
Let's be real, this is a direct response to the Stimulant-addled gameplay that has come to define Call of Duty. That franchise can't even make up its mind, with Modern Warfare 2 slowing things down only for Modern Warfare 3 to crank the slide-canceling and bunny-hopping right back up again. A lobby full of those "jumping beans," as one writer aptly put it, "distorts the horizontal, boots-on-the-ground rhythm of CoD into discount Apex Legends".
It’s refreshing to see Battlefield Studios drawing a clear line in the sand. They are consciously choosing to not chase the twitchy, unpredictable trend. There's still another round of testing to come before the game's launch in a couple of months, but the message is clear: if you want to play like a squirrel on amphetamines, Call of Duty is right there waiting for you.