DICE talks differences between Battlefield 3 multiplayer on console and PC

As you may recall, DICE confirmed several months back that Battlefield 3 on the PC will support a maximum of 64 players, whereas the console version will be limited to 24. In a statement to German gaming site Gamezone.de (translation via CVG), DICE executive producer Patrick Bach went into more detail on the differences between console and PC.

While the player count may be lower, the rest is “more or less the same”, Bach explained. “We use the same engine, the same technology, the same animation system, the same lighting system. Our aim is to give the player the exact same experience and not try to dumb down the console version,”

Bach went on to admit that complete parity is “really, really difficult” to achieve. “We tried to get more players in [to the console version] but then you need to scale down all the graphics, scale down all the destructibility, and sometimes you need to scale down all the map sizes. Everything is a compromise on: where do you cut?”

One such compromise is the slightly more compact maps found on the console version. Bach explains: “When we say they are smaller, it’s not that we have cut them in half. But we tried to compact them slightly to keep the action up. If you compare it to Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the maps weren’t really small on console.”

One of my own personal fears for the console version was that jets might not make the cut. As terrible as I am at flying them, it’d be a shame to have to miss out on that. Fortunately, Bach also confirmed that jets will be available in the console version. “That’s another reason: if we had more players [on console] you might have to take away vehicles because there’s a lot of data that has to go through the network and the CPUs.”

Battlefield 3 launches on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on October 25 in North America, October 28 in Europe.