DICE: No Need for More than 64 Players in Battlefield Multiplayer

One of the big draws for the recently released Battlefield 3, the first person shooter from DICE and Electronic Arts, is the fact that it allows for 64 players to hunt each other on a map on foot, in vehicles or using jets and helicopters but players should not hold their breath about 128 player games in the next installment.

Speaking to PC Gamer, Patrick Bach, who is the executive producer working on Battlefield 3, has stated, “64 players is kind of the maximum where it’s still fun and you can still control the Battlefield. It’s like I can understand where I got shot from and why.”

He added, “Games are about having fun, it’s not about doing the most you can do. If we can jump two meters it must be better to jump four meters. No.”

The focus on 64 player multiplayer was linked to the PC origins of the Battlefield series and Bach believes that the team did the right thing by focusing on the platform that can deliver the biggest matches and then scaling down the experience for those who play on the Xbox 360 from Microsoft and the PlayStation 3 from Sony.

On consoles Battlefield 3 supports up to 32 players, depending on the game modes that are used.

The game is very much multiplayer focused, with the fan base asking DICE to return to the complex maps and interplay between infantry and vehicles that was the hallmark of Battlefield 2.

Since then DICE also created the Bad Company spin-off, which focused more on single player and on the characters.

So far the developers at the Swedish company have been assaulted by fans via social media, with most of the reaction being positive but some players also complaining that the game is now in worse shape that during the beta.