Not even a day after the launch of the free-to-play battle royale Battlefield RedSec, the game has already experienced its first controversy, with wave of negative reviews dropping RedSec's review rating to "Mostly Negative" on Steam, with a mere 38% of the reviews recommending the game. While the base gameplay of RedSec has apparently sat well with many gamers, with many praising the destruction mechanics and the large open maps, many players seem rather upset about a number of issues largely related to how the free-to-play game interacts with and compares to the main Battlefield 6 game. The main take-away is that gamers who bought Battlefield 6 seem to feel like they are being pressured into playing RedSec and that it appears as though DICE and EA invested significantly more time and resources into RedSec than Battlefield 6.

One recurring complaint is that Battlefield 6's weekly challenges are tied to game modes in RedSec, while other players seem upset that there is more variety in RedSec when it comes to vehicle options. The same appears to be true for the map and game design in RedSec, which features a larger map than Battlefield 6—even EA called the RedSec map the largest in any Battlefield game. That size offers players more freedom and perhaps even strategic advantages. "Oh wow a nice big map with lots of POIs and flanks. If only we could get something like this for the main game," reads one review. Complaints also abound, both on Reddit and in the Steam reviews, about bugs and the game's lack of polish, but those issues are likely to be resolved in time. Despite the complaints, Battlefield RedSec is currently eighth in SteamDB's top sales charts, with the Season 1 battle pass coming in fifth place.