Battlefield 6 'take a shower' viral screen explained - is it real?

There's a so-called 'screenshot' that's gone viral claimed to be from Battlefield 6 which appears to tell players to "take a shower" and that accounts get temporarily suspended if they "have been playing for 16 hours straight"...

Battlefield 6 is a return to the series roots from Electronic Arts (EA) who was looking to recapture the magic from what was considered the golden era of Battlefield in the days of Bad Company 2, Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4 and it seems to have done that.

The screenshot seems to have been first spotted on Facebook, posted on Reddit and then reposted on X / Twitter and, at the time of writing, a X / Twitter post about it has a staggering 11.7m views...

It's called "take a shower" and the subtext says: "You have been playing for 16 hours straight we cannot allow you to continue onto Battlefield 6 servers. We have restricted your account for a few hours please take a break. We have an obligation to keep our players and community safe. This ban is only temporary please try again soon."

But is all as it really seems? In a time when it's getting increasingly difficult to tell what's real and what is generated by AI, there are four key things that hint that this is not real.

The first and perhaps most obvious one is that the QR code does not work. To test its validity, indy100 tried to access the link but nothing happened. Others have reported the same thing happening to them.

The second is the inclusion of a 'restricted' button. Why would players have an option to 'restrict' their account instead of just exiting the game? Surely the only option would be to exit if this is legitimate.

The third is that there is no punctuation in the sentences themselves. Every sentence in the subtext needs a comma in it, with the exception of the third one, for it to make sense grammatically.

And the fourth is a slight formatting issue - the very first word "you" does not appear aligned to the left like the other letters do. While this is a very minor detail, it's highly unlikely this would happen if the screenshot is official.

So it seems to be fake, having been digitally altered or generated by AI.

indy100 has contacted Electronic Arts for confirmation and comment.

Elsewhere from indy100:

• Battlefield 6 players agree size is not the main issue when it comes to maps
• Battlefield 6 and REDSEC negative reviews flood Steam - here's why

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.