Battlefield 3 will “probably” ship with online pass system

In a statement to GamerZines, Battlefield 3 executive producer Patrick Bach suggested that Battlefield 3 may launch with an online pass system of sorts, a system that’s rapidly gaining steam among publishers.

Bach went on to explain that he doesn’t consider Battlefield 3‘s system an “online pass” per se, but he did strongly suggest that we’ll be seeing some form of it.

As he put it, EA needs something to help cover the cost of putting up new servers and maintenance for said servers, so this is one way for them to go about it. Used copies increase server load, but EA doesn’t get a dime out of it, and yet they still have to accommodate for it.

“If you create a new account there is a big process on how that is being handled in the backend. We would rather have you buy a new game than a used game because buying a used game is only a cost to us; we don’t get a single dime from a used game, but we still need to create server space and everything for you.”

Online pass or not, Battlefield 3 launches on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on October 25 in North America, October 28 in Europe.