Battlefield 6 Confirms No Ray Tracing at Launch

Battlefield 6 (Credit: EA/DICE)

Battlefield 6 will not include ray tracing when it launches on October 10, 2025, despite being one of EA’s most visually ambitious shooters to date.

The confirmation came directly from developer Christian Buhl, who stated that ray tracing is not part of the launch plans and won’t be added in the near future either.

The decision may come as a surprise to players with high-end rigs, but the reasoning behind it is straightforward. According to the development team, resources were prioritized toward optimizing performance and ensuring accessibility across a wide range of systems. In short, instead of pushing cutting-edge visuals for a small group of players, the studio chose to focus on stable performance for the majority.

Why No Ray Tracing?

As Christian Buhl explained:

“We wanted to focus on performance. We wanted to make sure that all of our effort was focused on making the game as [optimized] as possible for the default settings and the default users. So, we just made the decision relatively early on that we just weren’t going to do ray-tracing, and again, it was mostly so that we could focus on making sure it was performance for everyone else.”

During the beta, a notable portion of players ran the game on setups that were at or even below the listed minimum requirements. This was expected, and the team had already adjusted maps, assets, and engine optimizations with these players in mind.

This design choice mirrors sentiments shared in the broader industry. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has previously emphasized that developers should design with lower-spec hardware in mind first, as good scalability ensures the game looks and runs even better on top-tier systems.

System Requirements and Settings

Battlefield 6 has modest requirements for a 2025 release. At minimum, players will need an RTX 2060 paired with an Intel i5-8400 or Ryzen 5 2600 to run the game at 1080p 30fps. Recommended specs target 60fps at 1440p, requiring an RTX 3060 Ti or RX 6700 XT with an i7-10700 or Ryzen 7 3700X.

The game also includes more than 600 graphical and accessibility settings, giving PC players unprecedented control to fine-tune performance. With this level of customization, even those on weaker hardware should be able to squeeze out solid results.

Battlefield 6 (EA/DICE)

Console Performance and Player Feedback

On the console side, the game has already shown promise during testing. Reports from Digital Foundry praised Battlefield 6 for its stable frame rates and overall polish. Both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S held a locked 60fps, with optional Performance Modes pushing above that when VRR was enabled. Even in chaotic firefights filled with destruction — a hallmark of the series — frame rates remained consistent.

Feedback from the beta has been overwhelmingly positive, marking a clear improvement over the rocky launch of Battlefield 2042. Many players noted smooth gameplay and balanced performance across PC and consoles alike.