Battlefield 6 launched on October 10 to huge player numbers on Steam and a lot of momentum from a super successful and well-received open beta. It seemed like most people were excited for the game and its future. Now, just a little over two weeks later, the game’s first season and its battle royale mode have launched, and for many online, the honeymoon is over.
There’s no one single issue or change to blame for the angry fans and negative Steam reviews. Instead, it’s a mix of problems. Some fans are disappointed about colorful new skins and the battle pass, claiming it’s ruining the game’s launch vibes. Others are mad that the latest map added to BF6, Blackwell Fields, is yet again a fairly small map, and the new mode added in season one is tiny, too. And then there are the Battlefield 6 players who hate the game’s new battle royale mode, which features a big ol’ map, and fear that it might pull resources from the main game and its classic modes.
Battlefield 6’s season one battle pass and new skins
Before Battlefield 6 even launched, the topic of its cosmetics was a hot one. Many players, myself included, were tired of devs and publishers shoving crossover skins and other ugly cosmetics into nearly every modern online game. And the Battlefield 6 devs promised that the then-upcoming game wouldn’t go down that road. This whole skins saga became such a big deal that eventually, Activision announced the upcoming Call of Duty Black Ops 7 would not let players bring skins over from Black Ops 6 in order to prevent the FPS from instantly being flooded with goofy crap.
Now, with the launch of season one, BF6 players online have access to the game’s first new skins since launch, and the reaction has been mixed. Some find the skins far too colorful or argue they don’t fit the military vibes. There are also some new skins that can be used with every class, which has frustrated players as they fear it will make it hard to quickly identify different classes during combat. EA seems receptive to the feedback, as at least one skin’s bright green details were toned down with the season one patch. Funnily enough, there are also some people who find the new skins boring and ugly, lacking any reason to chase after them via BF6‘s new battle pass. Trying to thread the needle with BF6‘s cosmetics is going to be a nightmare.
Speaking of the battle pass, a lot of players aren’t happy with it, either. I get the feeling a lot of players online don’t like how it changes the vibes of the game. Now it feels like a real live-service shooter, something more akin to a modern Call of Duty, with ads encouraging players to buy the new battle pass, goals to chase, and limited-time rewards to unlock. And for some, this isn’t what they wanted. A highly rated post on the Battlefield subreddit is a screenshot of a Steam review saying: “This whole season 1 update feels like ad blocker stopped working.”
Redsec, BF6‘s new battle royale mode, has a negative rating on Steam
The biggest new addition in Battlefield 6′s first season is Redsec, EA’s stab at a large-scale free-to-play battle royale game. Anyone can now download BF6 Redsec and start playing the game’s new battle royale mode. The general consensus seems to be that Redsec is pretty good. I’ve not played much of it yet, but it does seem fun enough. However, over on Steam, the new Redsec mode has an overall negative review rating. But a lot of people aren’t mad about the mode; instead, they’re upset about how it has been integrated into BF6.
You see, the new battle pass brought with it weekly challenges. And some of these challenges require players to hop into Redsec to complete them. This isn’t going over well with some BF6 fans who feel like EA is requiring them to play something they never wanted in the first place. While BF6 lets you reroll a limited number of challenges, for those never planning on playing Redsec, it means they have to burn all their rerolls on challenges for a mode they have zero interest in. This has led to a lot of anger around Redsec and the new battle pass, too.
And then there’s the issue of Redsec‘s map. It’s very, very big. This isn’t a bad thing at all. In fact, Battlefield 6 players have been longing for bigger maps since the open beta. Battlefield Studios and EA promised bigger maps were coming. And then season one arrives, and the first new map added post-launch is a barren, bland oil field that feels overly cramped and isn’t what a lot of the online community wanted. Meanwhile, the free-to-play Redsec features a massive map. As you might expect, this hasn’t gone over well with many players clamoring for bigger maps.
The new map and mode are small and not very good
The game’s first new map is Blackwell Fields, a not-very-big level that is currently not much fun to play. You’ll likely get killed over and over again by snipers or blown up by AA guns if you try to fly around its limited skybox. Running around on foot is a chore, and the new map lacks any real landmarks or memorable spaces. And for many who were waiting for a bigger map to arrive post-launch, Blackwell Fields has shaken their confidence in the game’s future.
A new mode, Strikepoint, also added in season one, is essentially Call of Duty‘s popular seek-and-destroy. Two teams of four compete in multiple rounds to capture an objective. And once you die, that’s it until the next round. This kind of mode can be a lot of fun in shooters like Counter-Strike. But in Battlefield 6, Strikepoint feels out of place. The game already supports some smaller, infantry-focused modes, like team deathmatch and king of the hill. I’m not sure it needed yet another small mode. In a franchise known for big and epic warfare, the new small map and tiny mode feel like misfires and have disappointed many players.
It might be easy to write off a lot of this as just a small but vocal group of players online being angry about a video game. And that’s certainly part of what’s happening here. But anecdotally, I know some folks who play BF6 and aren’t very online. These people don’t troll Reddit or share angry social media posts. Yet even they aren’t sure about this new season. None of them seem to like Blackwell Fields, the new mode, or how the battle pass was implemented. And most of them are confused about Redsec, as they already have a few battle royales they play from time to time. The last thing they needed was one more.
So, where does that leave Battlefield 6? There will be those who claim the game is dying and done. That’s not the case. It still has a huge playerbase across console and PC who are playing the game daily. But it’s clear that the mood has shifted. Battlefield 6 is no longer a just-launched FPS harkening back to Battlefield 3 and older shooters. Instead, it’s now an active live-service game with multiple components, battle pass options, and even a full in-game cosmetic store. That might mean more money for EA, but it also means a lot more criticism and pushback from players. The question now is: Will EA be willing to change its roadmap for BF6 to appease these angry players, or will the publisher move forward as planned?
