Battlefield 6 Devs Have Dropped the Ball on Their Biggest Beta Promise, Despite Successful Release

Despite launching to record-breaking success, Battlefield 6 is already facing one big issue that isn’t going away anytime soon. Map size. Before release, DICE promised us during the beta that the game’s full release would feature “bigger and more diverse” maps compared to the beta.

BF6 has the best gameplay in franchise history but launched with a pretty disappointingly homogeneous map pool
byu/InappropriateCanuck inBattlefield

But it hasn’t even been a week since the game’s launch, and the community is disappointed with the maps. Players are arguing that the maps remain too small and claustrophobic, which means the action is all close quarters with no room to breathe. And that’s not the classic Battlefield scale the franchise is known for.

Players Feel Misled by DICE’s “Bigger Maps” Promise For Battlefield 6

When Battlefield 6’s beta rolled out earlier this year, one of the biggest problems that we had back then was the smaller, tighter maps. Design director Salim Fasahat assured fans (via the PC Gamer Magazine) that this was intentional, claiming that “they were intentionally smaller than the ones we know are coming.”

Game is fun but respectfully these maps are ASS.
byu/Dull-Caterpillar3153 inBattlefield

At the time, we took that as a guarantee that the big maps and sense of Battlefield that we know would come with the full release. But fast forward to the game’s launch weekend, and players are now saying that the full game’s maps feel just as cramped as the beta’s, if not worse.

Maps like sobek City are WAY too small to welcome 32v32 players . Those small map should be 16v16 its too intense !
Please fix it if you Cant make the curent map bigger

— Skynet (@LeT3000TFC) October 10, 2025

A Reddit post that has now become one of the community’s most upvoted discussions argues that “Maps across the board lean towards the smaller end of the scale,” and that they also“feel smaller than they appear.” Players say the design encourages nonstop close-quarters combat, making the experience feel more like Call of Duty than Battlefield.

I only have about 5 hours in Battlefield 6 but so far I can say, destruction is good, guns feel decent except for on controller.. no big deal mnk is good, the large conquest maps feel small, it seems like there’s no vertical battles as in we need a map that is full of buildings…

— Beau (@beaudenison) October 11, 2025

Even those enjoying the game overall admit that the maps feel too chaotic and tightly designed. One player said the game feels like a “meat grinder,” where “spawn, sprint, die” is the gameplay loop. Other players say that objectives are too close together, making matches feel congested and full of close-quarters combat.

DICE Acknowledges the Backlash Amidst Record-Breaking Launch

Funnily enough, we’re having these complaints as the game is getting one of the strongest releases in Battlefield history. Battlefield 6 achieved a peak of 747,440 concurrent players on Steam during its first weekend, which is nearly seven times more than Battlefield V and 2042 at launch. It also helped Steam break its all-time concurrent user record, reaching over 41.6 million players.

Please keep the feedback coming! With the first weekend for BF6 in the wild, we are bound to have found issues, problems, stuff you like to see change – perhaps even praise? It’s still all good, I want to know. And the team is eager to show you how much we care!

— David Sirland (@tiggr_) October 12, 2025

Even so, DICE hasn’t ignored the growing criticism. Lead Producer David Sirland acknowledged the ongoing debate about map size just three days post-launch. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he stated that the studio remains open to community feedback and that “the team is eager to show you how much we care!“

The first major map expansion that’s arriving later this month with Season 1’s Rogue Ops phase could address some of these complaints. At least, that’s what we’re hoping for. Still, fans aren’t holding their breath. Despite this, though, we can’t deny the game’s solid foundation. There’s room to improve and perfect these issues.

How has your experience with Battlefield 6 been so far? Let us know in the comments.