14 DAY TRIAL // DICE, the developer behind the browser-only multiplayer shooter, is announcing that it plans to take down the currently running closed beta version of the game in order to be able to make some significant changes to how it plays. This means that the launch of the game, which was initially scheduled for the summer of 2008 and was delayed to later in autumn, is now not expected to take place until sometime in spring 2009. DICE is also planning to launch another beta stage before the release.
James Salt, who is the senior producer on Battlefield Heroes, has said that “parts of the beta that aren't the game” need to be improved, and explained that “You know the old saying about icebergs being 10 percent above water, and 90 percent below? Heroes is a little like that. There's the 10 percent game part you can see, and the hiding 90 percent is what we call the 'backend'.”
The way the game handles matchmaking and in which it tracks the results of all the players needs to be improved. DICE wants players to be able to see how well they've done in a match at a glance, while allowing them to also extract more in-depth statistics, tracking which weapons they used and how well their comrades played. All of this is part of an effort to create an experience that is engrossing even when players are not shooting each other in the actual game.
For Battlefield Heroes, Electronic Arts has created a new model, called Play 4 Free, that forgoes the subscription fee a player would have to pay, and tries to support the game through advertisements and micropayments related to character customization.
If the model proves to be successful for this first DICE made game, then the company is expected to create more products that can work in a browser and that can be supported by ads.