It appears Xbox 360 owners continue to have a tough time with Battlefield 3, with European gamers picking up copies at midnight launches last night encountering server problems, and some unable to access the game's multiplayer component at all due to single-use, in-box codes being invalid.
Reports on Twitter and gaming forums overnight show that once again EA's servers are struggling with demand, as was the case following its North American launch on Tuesday. One poster on gaming forum rllmuk claims that, when he was finally able to view a list of available games last night, only ten servers were running worldwide.
While that can be fixed at EA's end, the publisher appears to have offloaded the blame for invalid codes onto retailers. A post in the help section of EA's website reads: "We are aware of the invalid code issue and apologise for the inconvenience.
"Since certain retailers are affected by this issue, please check with the retailer where you purchased Battlefield 3 in order to receive a replacement code."
With the game launching at retail at midnight, and gamers across Europe looking to pick up their copies today, EA's failure to confirm precisely which retailers are affected - and should therefore be avoided - will be an understandable source of frustration. The apparent lack of server capacity, too, is curious given EA's announcement last night that it has shipped 10 million copies to retailers.
If you've had problems redeeming your code, let us know where you bought it in the comments below.
Comments
9So can someone elaborate on why EA refuse to use the Xbox Live architecture that works just fine for everyone else?
Xbox Live doesn't give you dedicated servers, it's peer to peer. Dedicated is theoretically better, but every Battlefield game on consoles has these problems at launch. Every time.
The limited number of servers seemed to be the server browser showing very few results to people, I could only see three, but was in a party of six or seven people, all in a different game.
Ten servers? Three servers? I was regularly seeing zero servers.
I've had the invalid code problem twice in a row! I bought it from GAME in scarborough. I'm on the phone waiting in a q for xbox live support this is absolutely rediculous! I need to take the game back again! I hope they don't think I'm ripping them off...
Print this article out and show it to them? Then ask them to complain to EA, since you're wasting their time as well as your own. :)
I guess Ive been pretty lucky. Mine is working fine. With regards to the server browser not showing any servers, I believe it only shows ones with space on so to get more servers showing up set all your filters to ANY and just take any normal or hardcore game type (avoid infantry mode, its boring) you can for now while they keep throwing servers up.
Those who havent been able to play yet and had doubts about the gameplay and graphics because of the beta issues dont need to worry.. Graphics are amazing and the gameplay runs really smoothly. Ive not seen any of the lag issues or glitches such as falling through the floor which happened frequently in the beta and gave me doubts myself. If you have to wait a couple of days for it to get fixed then at least you know that its worth the wait. This game is perfec now EA need to add the t on the end of that word with some more servers in the right areas.
DICE normally have these issues sorted out within a week as they have on all the other Battlefields so just be patient. Its definitely the best FPS around.
Three things
1. If I wasn't still having "server issues" with previous DICE EA releases(and I am looking at BFBC2 among other "Battlefields") I might be more inclined to accept the current "We are aware and working on the issues"
2. If the server issues weren't already known not only from the ALPHA/BETA of this game (and think of how many fewer people there were for these testing stages vs. worldwide release) but from their previous title releases I might be more inclined to accept the "Sorry for the inconvenience but we are working on it"
3. Why should I be forced to wait a "couple of days" (which I will be suprised if they ever fully work out their server issues - atleast until we as a gaming community stop buying their products until they do) when this should have been addressed previously and I paid to play not paid to look at a shiny disc and a Screen reading "Failed to Connect to EA servers"
Even taking 1% of their earnings of $3.8billion would have dramatically improved their "dedicated server status"
.02
Well the game servers themselves arent the problem. Once youre in one its really robust and runs very smoothly. They also have plenty of them but just not for the more popular game modes like normal and hardcore. I think theyll have to move some around and get more up for sure but if it does take a couple of days you can always just smash your way through the story which isnt as bad as shoddy IGN made out. Andy McNabs input definitely helped from what Ive seen so far.
This is becoming the norm for EA games. Popular sports games like NHL and FIFA have the same issues every year at launch. One of the main reasons I passed on Battlefield 3 was because of the dependence on EA's poor server planning.