Battlefield 6 Opens Free Trial Head-to-Head With Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Beta
Battlefield 6 is free to play for a week starting 18 August 2026, and the trial runs straight into the first beta for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. Both events close on Tuesday, 25 August 2026.
EA and Battlefield Studios timed the free trial to coincide with Season 4's mid-season update, which adds the long-awaited Top Gun collaboration (Eurogamer, 18 August 2026). Two new maps and a Top Gun-themed mode called Carrier Strike are included in the trial. Wake Island, the fan-favourite battlefield dating back to the franchise's origins, also returns with the same update (EA, official product page).
Modern Warfare 4's first beta session runs from Friday, 21 August to Tuesday, 25 August 2026. The beta dates were announced in July 2026, and this session includes a campaign mission — a first for a Call of Duty beta (Eurogamer, 18 August 2026).
The overlap is no accident. These two military shooter franchises have been trading blows on the calendar for two years running. When Battlefield 6 launched, Activision countered with a week-long free trial for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 during Battlefield's release week. Battlefield 6 later went free for a week shortly after the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 — a release described as disappointing in reporting at the time (Eurogamer, 18 August 2026). Battlefield Studios has also hosted free trials tied to major updates before, making this a recurring tactic rather than a one-off.
To play the Battlefield 6 trial, players need Battlefield REDSEC — the free-to-play component of Battlefield 6, installed separately from the main game and requiring all current updates (EA, disclaimers page). No purchase is required. After the trial ends on 25 August, players keep their earned unlocks and can continue playing REDSEC for free (EA, REDSEC event page).
Season 4's Top Gun update also introduces Fighter Sweep, another Top Gun-branded mode that was already available in REDSEC before the trial began (Eurogamer, 18 August 2026).
For players, the week of 18–25 August is a rare chance to sample both flagship shooters at no cost. For EA and Activision, it is a head-to-head test of which game can pull and hold more players over the same seven-day window — with full release cycles still ahead for both titles.
