Battlefield 6 has rolled out one of the most aggressive anti-cheat systems in gaming. The game won’t even launch on PC unless players have Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 enabled in their system firmware. Players report that the approach is working to cut down on cheating. But it’s also creating serious access problems for legitimate players who can’t get the required security features working.
The system at the center of this is EA Javelin. It’s EA’s in-house kernel-level anti-cheat that already runs across over 2.2 billion PC gaming sessions in titles like EA Sports FC, Madden, and previous Battlefield games.
What makes Battlefield 6 different is the enforcement. Older Battlefield titles use Javelin but don’t require Secure Boot or TPM. Battlefield 6 does. The game checks whether your PC is in a trusted state before it will launch. If Windows isn’t running with Secure Boot properly configured, you’re not playing.
The technical reason is straightforward. Secure Boot only allows signed and trusted bootloaders to run. Measured Boot logs every stage of the boot process to the TPM chip. Together, they prevent cheaters from loading unsigned kernel drivers to hide their cheats. The TPM’s built-in endorsement key also makes hardware bans much harder to bypass since wiping the TPM doesn’t destroy that unique identifier.
Player reports suggest the system is delivering results. Multiple Battlefield 6 players say they’ve encountered only a handful of obvious cheaters. This stands in contrast to Battlefield 1 and Battlefield V, which were heavily infested with cheaters.
Cheats still exist for Battlefield 6. YouTube and streaming sites show evidence of working aimbots and wallhacks. But the frequency appears far lower. As one player put it, there’s a huge difference between 100 cheaters and 10,000.
The tradeoff is clear. Some players can’t access the game at all. Users report that enabling Secure Boot on custom-built PCs has crashed their BIOS. Multiple reports mention MSI and ASRock motherboards specifically.
Others have Secure Boot enabled but Battlefield 6 still insists it’s not properly configured and blocks launch. Some players gave up after trying the beta and decided not to buy the game. One user said they had to replace their SSD and reinstall Windows to get Secure Boot working correctly.
Linux users are effectively shut out. The Secure Boot and kernel-level requirements make the game unplayable on Linux even through Proton. That also means that Battlefield 6 is not available on the Steam Deck.
The price of a clean game
The most concerning reports involve disputed bans. One player was permanently banned from Battlefield 6 for having reWASD installed on their system. reWASD is controller remapping software often used for accessibility purposes and adding paddle functionality to Xbox controllers. The player says they never used reWASD in Battlefield 6 and closed the software whenever they played after Javelin blocked it from running. They were still banned. Their appeal was denied.
reWASD is flagged because it can be abused. Cheaters use it to map keyboard and mouse inputs to a virtual controller. This tricks games into thinking the user is on a controller and grants controller aim assist to mouse users. It functions as a soft aimbot. But the software also serves legitimate accessibility needs for disabled players.
In previous games anti-cheats typically blocked reWASD from running but didn’t issue bans. The permanent ban for simply having it installed marks a harsher enforcement approach.
