EA Trying to Solve Battlefield 3 PC Bans After Punkbuster Issues

Electronic Arts has revealed that it’s now trying to remove the faulty bans that were mistakenly issued to Battlefield 3 PC players after certain issues with the Punkbuster anti-cheat tool and other third party services last week.

Battlefield 3 amazed millions with its top notch shooter gameplay, specifically in the solid multiplayer mode, which still keeps many gamers connected to online matches whether they’re on the PC, PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 platforms.

Sadly, as we heard last week, things started going awry on the PC, as issues with the Punkbuster anti cheating program resulted in quite a lot of players being banned from the game’s online mode, despite not using any sort of cheats or exploits.

EA said at that time that it was trying to get to the bottom of it. Now the company has posted a new announcement, saying these bans stemmed from third party services used by certain Battlefield 3 players, which caused fake detections by Punkbuster.

"We have determined that the root cause resulting in the server bans is not directly related to Battlefield 3, but rather related to select 3rd party services which server owners can use in conjunction with PunkBuster to protect their servers,” EA said.

The company added that it’s now removing the faulty bans and that Battlefield 3 gamers on the PC will soon be able to play online as intended.

"Together with the 3rd party service providers we have taken steps to remove the faulty bans, and improve the protection against future fake bans," EA added. "If you are able to log in to Battlelog, your account has not been banned by EA or DICE so there is no need to contact Customer Support. This issue did not affect Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 players of Battlefield 3."

If players are still encountering issues, EA recommends they find other servers with or without Punkbuster support.