Battlefield 6 is free to play for one week – but not without a catch

Anyone who has yet to try Battlefield 6 will have the chance to do so for free between August 18 and 25. Several multiplayer modes will be available during the week-long trial, including Conquest, Breakthrough, Escalation, Casual Breakthrough and Top Gun: Carrier Strike. Battles will take place on Wake Island, Tsuru Reef, Cairo Bazaar and Hagental Base. This means players will not only be able to try out two of the newest maps, but also get a taste of the current Top Gun crossover.

The free trial will be available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC – via Steam, the Epic Games Store or the EA App. One convenient feature: All unlocks earned during the free period will carry over. However, the promotion does come with a catch: To access the free trial, players first have to download the free-to-play REDSEC mode, BF6's Battle Royale spin-off – and that is no small detour, as REDSEC requires between 27 GB and more than 60 GB of storage space depending on the platform.

Is EA trying to give its Battle Royale mode a boost?

Insider Gaming suspects that EA may have deliberately introduced this access requirement to steer new players toward REDSEC. After all, the Battle Royale spin-off remains installed on the system once the trial ends. Anyone who has already overcome the biggest hurdle – the sizable download – may be more inclined to keep playing it afterward. Insider Gaming also points to the fact that REDSEC has reportedly failed to attract the level of attention EA had hoped for.

On Reddit, however, this theory has received little support. Several users consider Insider Gaming's interpretation exaggerated, arguing that REDSEC is already free to play and that the required download does not force anyone to actually play a Battle Royale match. Reddit users suspect there may be a much simpler reason for the requirement: The Top Gun mode included in the trial is said to be based on Gauntlet or a REDSEC map, meaning the corresponding game data would be required anyway. However, this assumption has not been confirmed either. Whether it is clever cross-promotion or simply a technical necessity, anyone who wants to try Battlefield 6 for free will have to download REDSEC first.