Battlefield 6 Developers Reveal Secret ‘Nuke Button’ That Instantly Levels Maps
The team behind Battlefield 6 has confirmed the existence of a dramatic internal tool: a single button that instantly destroys every destructible element on a map, reducing the battlefield to total ruin with one click.
The revelation came during an interview with Kotaku, where producer Jeremy Chubb and design director Shashank Uchil explained how the tool works. Built into the Frostbite engine, the button is used to test whether multiplayer maps remain balanced and fun even after near-total destruction – a key part of the Battlefield franchise’s signature chaos.
According to Uchil, each map is designed with three distinct phases: pristine, partially destroyed, and fully leveled. The tool allows developers to skip directly to the worst-case scenario.
“You can see what is the worst-case scenario,” Uchil said. “Is there enough cover? Do we need to add more assets so that even in the final stage, it’s still fun to play?”
While the feature sounds like a gamer’s dream, it serves a very practical purpose. Battlefield’s large-scale maps, which can host 128 players, must be carefully tuned to remain playable at every stage of destruction. The instant-detonation button helps the design team identify problem areas and fix them before release.
However, the button isn’t without risks. Chubb admitted that triggering it can overwhelm the game engine with physics calculations, since destruction is normally designed to occur gradually during a match.
“We’ve had some big meltdowns when it’s pressed,” Chubb said, hinting that performance engineers aren’t always thrilled when the map goes up in smoke all at once.
The feature is particularly important for redesigned legacy maps like Operation Firestorm, where players can topple oil refineries, collapse entire buildings, and destroy defensive lines. Ensuring these dramatic events don’t break the game takes extreme measures – and this nuke-like button is one of them.
Though it’s unlikely the public will ever get access to this tool, Uchil agreed that releasing a GIF of an entire map being leveled at once would make for great marketing. Whether EA follows through on that suggestion remains to be seen.
Battlefield 6 launches worldwide on October 10, but for now, only DICE’s developers have the power to flatten a battlefield with a single, devastating click.
