- 1 day ago
Battlefield 6 was a massive return to form, but the launch of the free-to-play Battle Royale mode, RedSec, has the community completely divided. We were promised a gritty, grounded shooter, but RedSec is facing backlash for its similarities to Call of Duty War Zone.
We break down the controversy, including why the single biggest map is in the free-to-play mode, why progression is tied to playing RedSec, and the overall push toward a live service model. Is this just EA trying to force long-term recurrent spending? The Battlefield community is not happy.
We break down the controversy, including why the single biggest map is in the free-to-play mode, why progression is tied to playing RedSec, and the overall push toward a live service model. Is this just EA trying to force long-term recurrent spending? The Battlefield community is not happy.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Battlefield 6 seemed a little bit too good to be true, and maybe now it is.
00:04If you've seen the ongoing controversy around Battlefield RedSec,
00:07then let's dive into some of the details as to why the Battlefield community are so divided
00:12over this free-to-play Battle Royale addition to Battlefield 6.
00:15Now, RedSec is the name for Battlefield's add-on game.
00:18It just got shadow-dropped on October 28th.
00:20I guess various insiders knew that it was going to happen.
00:24But yeah, I didn't really realise what this thing was until it was at the PlayStation trending sale.
00:28The trending charts, anyway.
00:30And, you know, it's had a massive initial reaction.
00:33Over 500,000 players on Steam, you know, joining Battlefield 6's overall positive reception.
00:38You know, that thing sold over 7 million units in the first three days.
00:41A massive return to form for the IP overall.
00:44And because if we're talking about Battle Royale and we're talking about Battlefield,
00:47you can go back to Battlefield 5 at the end of 2018, November 2018.
00:51And that game getting a Battle Royale mode in March 2019, many months after the game had, you know,
00:56kind of came and went.
00:58Battlefield 5 was a bit more of a divisive release overall back then.
01:01And so still, you know, overall, BF6 doing very well.
01:04And a part of the run-up to launch was this whole positioning of the game as something that Call
01:08of Duty wasn't.
01:09It was just going to be this, you know, way more serious, gritty, you know,
01:12return to boots on the ground gameplay and nothing, you know, over the top in regards to the destruction.
01:17But it wasn't going to have over-the-top skins.
01:19It wasn't going to have a focus on Call of Duty Warzone.
01:21It wasn't going to have all that kind of stuff.
01:22You even have had specific quotes from EA's technical director or DICE's technical director,
01:29Christian Buhl, talking to IGN in September, saying that, you know,
01:33they're building a gritty, grounded, realistic shooter.
01:35That's what we intend to be.
01:36And that's what the game is going to look like for a while.
01:38And that is now up for grabs in regards to what Battlefield RedSec represents,
01:44because it seems like a lot more focus is being put into this ongoing, you know,
01:48multiplayer platform Battle Royale free-to-play than Battlefield 6 itself.
01:53And fans are mixed as to the way that things are rolling out.
01:57RedSec itself did also have various bugs and server dropouts when it launched.
02:01That's likely just because of the amount of people that were playing it.
02:03And there's also the fact that, you know,
02:04they didn't really talk that much about the idea of a Battle Royale mode being plugged into Battlefield 6,
02:09which a lot of people do just run for the hills when they hear about Battle Royales.
02:13I just, you know, that genre, that mode has kind of come and gone to a degree.
02:19But obviously Call of Duty Warzone is still one of the biggest names in the game.
02:22And as we'll talk about, it seems like EA were forever wanting to, you know, do the comparisons,
02:28have Battlefield RedSec in that conversation alongside Call of Duty Warzone,
02:32even though for the most part in the marketing and the run-up to launch,
02:35it was all, hey, look, we're focusing on, you know, the multiplayer, the campaign,
02:39we're not going to do this forever ongoing live service component, which now they do have.
02:44A lot of people who are playing RedSec say that the general feel when it comes to, you know,
02:48moving through the map, hoovering up the loot, engaging with other players,
02:51that that does just remind them of Call of Duty Warzone.
02:54And it's strange timing because this year, Call of Duty isn't doing very well.
02:57Like the player numbers in regards to Black Ops 7's early access, the beta,
03:02it peaked at like 75,000 players, whereas Battlefield 6 had something like half a million.
03:06Like Battlefield is absolutely dog-walking Call of Duty this year.
03:10Even though if you go down the specifics of different packages that you can pre-order,
03:13Call of Duty is still doing strong enough, but it still feels like it's Battlefield's year.
03:17Like the general response to Black Ops 7, you know, during the Summer Game Fest was pretty damn negative.
03:22And like I said, everything in the runway is clear for Battlefield to do very well,
03:26and it had done in the run-up to launch.
03:27But as I say, people playing RedSec say that there's a lot of Warzone comparisons in here,
03:31even though the reality of development time means that there's no way that EA could have predicted,
03:36or DICE could have predicted, that Black Ops wasn't going to go down too well in this particular year.
03:40Still, it's a shame on the Battlefield side to get a main game that is so distinct and is such
03:45a return to form,
03:46only for the plugged-in free-to-play Battle Royale component to be so reminiscent of the thing
03:51that so many people are so vehemently against in regards to, you know, Warzone
03:56and the way that Call of Duty handles its Battle Royale.
03:58To get more specific, a lot of fans saying that, you know, the map size in the RedSec map
04:02is so much bigger than anything that's in the Battlefield 6 main game,
04:05which is obviously the premium game that a lot of people have paid for.
04:08And that comes off the beta around Battlefield being talked about as being disappointing
04:13because they didn't launch, or they didn't test out the bigger maps,
04:16which meant the fanbase had to kind of lean back on, like,
04:18well, I'm sure it'll be fine come launch.
04:20And there are bigger maps in there compared to what was in the beta,
04:23but still, the biggest map that you can see in regards to, you know, Battlefield 6,
04:27the newest era of Battlefield, is in the Battle Royale.
04:30And that's just a bit of another blow.
04:32Like, and also the fact that it's free-to-play, you can kind of just hang back,
04:36play the free-to-play, you know, RedSec version of Battlefield,
04:39and have a fun enough time, have something closer to a Battlefield experience,
04:42all the vehicles are in there, you can squad up with your friends,
04:45you can have a Battlefield in the free-to-play component
04:48in a way that you arguably can't in a lot of the matches,
04:52in the standard modes, the grounded stuff, the conquest, that kind of thing,
04:55in the standard Battlefield 6, which is another reason why
04:58the game is being so negatively received,
04:59and why it's being completely review-bombed over on Steam.
05:02The console side of things is a little bit more positive,
05:04but we still have a general conversation around
05:07where was the focus in development, and why wasn't this talked about more,
05:10and why is there, you know, such a weird push towards
05:13this Battle Royale live service component,
05:15when a lot of, from the fan perspective, you know,
05:17they thought that they finally realized what the hell they should deliver.
05:20And it is one of those, you know, it was too good to be true things,
05:24because we always knew EA were on the publishing side,
05:26and they were not just going to put so much money into a,
05:29you know, the single-player story mode,
05:31and then the online multiplayer thing,
05:33without plugging in a whole bunch of microtransactions,
05:36and different ways to get recurrent spending methods going forward.
05:40It's worth just pointing out that that conversation around the map size,
05:43you know, the idea that the biggest map,
05:44the most identifiable style of Battlefield gameplay
05:47is in the free-to-play Battle Royale mode,
05:49is that just a way to get, you know, established Battlefield players
05:52who were looking for bigger maps,
05:53and bigger interactive, you know, gunfights,
05:56and more over-the-top interactions with other players,
05:58is that just a way to get them to play the Battle Royale mode,
06:01no matter what?
06:02One of the main things that is peeing the fanbase off royally
06:05is that a lot of the progression in Battlefield 6
06:08is fundamentally tied to RedSec.
06:10Now, there are ways that you can grind out
06:11a lot of the weekly challenges within Battlefield 6,
06:14but a lot of the more speed boosts,
06:15and the more efficient ways of getting through your challenges,
06:17it forces you into the Battle Royale mode.
06:20It forces you to, you know, take part in a mode
06:22that's likely not what you bought Battlefield 6 for.
06:25I've seen that, you know, literally mentioned
06:27over in a headline on Windows Central,
06:28and that a lot of people already paid the premium price point
06:30to get the new Battlefield,
06:31and now they're being asked to play this free-to-play spin-off mode
06:34that isn't why they showed up in the first place,
06:36and isn't what EA slash DICE were profiling
06:38in the run-up to launch either.
06:40It is just, you know, it brings up that whole conversation
06:42on that idea of, you know,
06:44one of the biggest maps in Battlefield history
06:46is locked to this Battle Royale mode, at least for now,
06:48and is that just a way of getting
06:51established veteran Battlefield players
06:52who thought they knew what they were getting
06:53over into the Battle Royale,
06:55because that's where they can try and tempt you
06:57with different skins and different recurrent spending methods,
06:59and is that the actual play?
07:01That feels like something more akin
07:03to what EA is known for,
07:05and I wouldn't put it past them.
07:06The last thing to touch upon
07:07is just the idea of the skins
07:09and the general presentation
07:10of this Battle Royale mode.
07:12There's already been a bit of a controversy
07:14around a skin that was too green,
07:16it was too hyper-coloured,
07:18and it was toned down with the release of RedSec
07:20and the Season 1 update for Battlefield,
07:23with a lot of fans saying,
07:24like, oh, at least they listened,
07:25they didn't stick to this more over-the-top neon skin
07:27that you could get in the game,
07:28I think it's called, like, Ground Zero or something.
07:31But it's part of that conversation
07:32which DICE waved into, you know,
07:34in the run-up to launch,
07:35saying that they're not going to be having
07:36over-the-top skins,
07:37and over-the-top presentation,
07:39they're going to be doing something
07:40that is more in line with, you know,
07:42being a gritty return
07:43to what Battlefield is known for,
07:44and obviously they were referencing,
07:46without saying it specifically,
07:47Call of Duty Warzone,
07:48and a lot of the ridiculous over-the-top skins
07:50that that mode, that game,
07:52has had added to it,
07:52whether it's Nicki Minaj,
07:54or, you know, King Kong and Godzilla,
07:56or whatever,
07:57people just want a stock,
07:59you know, more realistic,
08:00more authentic military FPS.
08:02It's why something like Ready or Not
08:03has blown the hell up across this year,
08:05and even why something like Helldivers 2
08:07has done so well,
08:08even though, obviously,
08:08it's more of a sci-fi game,
08:10it still has realistic shooing,
08:11and it's not surprising you
08:12with the add-ons every other month
08:13in regards to what gets put
08:15in the official store
08:16that you're just expected to factor in
08:18to the canon of the thing
08:19that you're playing.
08:20But yeah, in regards to Battlefield,
08:23it's so good,
08:24it's so well handled for the most part,
08:26but sadly,
08:27we do have all the Red Sox stuff
08:29to throw alongside,
08:30which is muddying the waters,
08:32to say the least.
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