Skip to content
  1. Index
  2. » News

Vince Zampella Tells Battlefield 6 PC Players to Refund EA App After Launch Outage

Posted by Brandan Taylor on

The October 10, 2025, launch of Battlefield 6 was expected to be one of the biggest releases of the year, but for many PC players, it turned into a day of frustration. Electronic Arts’ proprietary launcher, the EA App, suffered a severe outage that prevented a large number of users from accessing the game. Reports from players who had pre-ordered Battlefield 6 through the EA App indicated that they were unable to start the game due to a failed content ownership check.

While such technical hiccups are not unusual for large multiplayer releases, the issue with the EA App was more serious. Instead of slow logins or congested servers, players were told they did not own the game they had purchased. Those who bought Battlefield 6 on Steam, however, were able to play without interruption, as that version did not require the EA App to function.

As the problem persisted, Battlefield franchise head and Respawn Entertainment CEO Vince Zampella publicly acknowledged the problem. Posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, he wrote, “I have yelled about EA App people. Any suggestions on next levels of escalation?” His message indicated frustration with the ongoing outage and a desire to see the problem resolved quickly.

When one player asked if they could refund the EA App version and buy the game on Steam instead, Zampella responded, “Can you refund and buy on Steam?” The exchange drew widespread attention because it came directly from an Electronic Arts executive, effectively advising customers to use a third-party storefront rather than the company’s own platform.

The EA App outage lasted approximately ten hours before services were restored. Zampella later confirmed that the issues were fixed at 9:23 p.m. ET on the same day. During the downtime, Battlefield 6’s popularity surged on Steam, where it reached a peak of 747,400 concurrent players while EA App users remained locked out.

Some players on Steam briefly encountered an unrelated issue where the client listed the game as “not released,” but this was quickly resolved by restarting the PC or launching the game directly from the Steam library. The EA App’s problems, however, persisted until the full system fix was deployed later that evening.

In response to the outage, Zampella continued engaging with players online. When one user suggested that he “yell at Andrew Wilson’s face,” referring to the CEO of Electronic Arts, Zampella replied, “It’s not his fault, he’s just as upset as me.” This comment clarified that the issue was not caused by EA’s leadership, but by technical failures within the launcher’s infrastructure.

After the service was restored, Electronic Arts announced that affected players would receive in-game compensation. Those who attempted to log in through the EA App on October 10 but were unable to play would receive twelve Hardware and twelve Career 60-minute XP boosters, as well as a premium Season 1 battle pass valued at $9.99. The premium battle pass will become available on October 28, aligning with the launch of Battlefield 6 Season 1.

Players who purchased the Battlefield 6 Phantom Edition, which already included the premium pass, will instead receive the Season 2 battle pass to maintain equal value across all editions. EA’s announcement confirmed that these rewards would be distributed automatically to affected accounts once the rollout began.

While the outage was limited to PC users on the EA App, console players on Xbox and PlayStation experienced only typical launch-day queue times and were largely unaffected.