EA reveals Battlefield RedSec, its free-to-play CoD Warzone rival, in the most underwhelming way possible

At Battlefield 6's huge reveal event during the summer, Battlefield Studios confirmed that the series would once again go up against the best battle royale games with a spinoff experience. Very little has been revealed about it since, with the developer never officially stating its name or when it would launch. However, rumors and reports from the last few days have suggested it'll shadow drop alongside Battlefield 6 Season 1 this week, and now - seemingly by accident - that's all been confirmed. Titled Battlefield RedSec, the series' new BR experience will launch for free tomorrow, October 28.

Rather than revealing the news about Battlefield RedSec in its trailers and blog posts for Battlefield 6 Season 1, it felt like EA really wanted a shadow drop moment. However, 24 hours before the start of the new season, a RedSec gameplay trailer placeholder has gone live on the official Battlefield YouTube page, counting down to a premiere of the video on - you guessed it - the same start time as the new season.

The description of the video is sparse, but it does contain two things. First, it reaffirms the trailer's premiere time of 8am PT / 11am ET / 3pm GMT. This should also be the Season 1 and Battlefield RedSec release time. The second thing it contains is a sentence that reads, "Free to Play. October 28th," confirming it will indeed be a standalone, free experience. That makes it very similar to Call of Duty Warzone, in that regard.

Battlefield has shouted about the preview on social media, so this certainly isn't an unintentional slip-up. That makes it all the more disappointing that we're learning about RedSec's name and launch date in such an underwhelming way. It really doesn't feel much of a surprise anymore. Regardless, we now know that there'll be a brand new battle royale to try out tomorrow, and I can't really complain about that.

However, I'm a little surprised to see RedSec dropping now, if I'm honest. There's been a lot of love for Battlefield 6, and the excitement for its first season would've surely been enough for most fans. I think that despite its huge success so far, there's concern about the arrival of Arc Raiders and Black Ops 7.

The former, dropping on Thursday, October 30, could detract attention from the new season, while CoD is of course Battlefield's age-old nemesis. If people can get hooked on RedSec now, then maybe Arc Raiders, Black Ops 7, and the new CoD's integration into Warzone, will seem less attractive. I still think they could've held on to RedSec for a couple of months yet, but we'll see how it all shakes out.

So, Battlefield 6 RedSec will be on our screens within the next 24 hours. Exciting (and rather hectic) times, indeed. Battlefield 6 is without a doubt one of the best FPS games of the last couple of years, so a BR made with its DNA sounds like a recipe for success.

Will you be giving RedSec a go this week? If so, come and let us know what you think in the PCGamesN Discord server. I'll definitely be jumping in tomorrow, but we'll see if it can keep me away from Arc Raiders.