Speaking to IGN, DICE’s General Manager Magnus Troedsson has weighed in on some pressing issues regarding Battlefield 3, including its disturbing absence from Steam, the limits imposed on the console version, and the possibility of mod tools.
When asked about mod support for Battlefield 3, Troedsson said “we haven’t had mod support in our games for a long time, and there’s a lot of reasons for that. First of all, DICE is committed to innovation and quality, whenever we do something. If we were to do mod support, it needs to be proper mod support, not some hack that we’ve thrown out there and then people scratch their heads. If we let it out there, it’s going to be a good tool.”
“It’s a bit scary to take an investment like Battlefield 3 and just let people dig into that engine and do whatever they want. We’re dedicated to try and really limit the amount of hacks and exploits that come out there, but as soon as you let something like that out, people have all the tools in the world that they need to sit there and try to create cheats that actually would destroy the experience for a lot of other people. I’m not blaming mod tools for hacks and exploits in any way, but there’s a lot of things we need to consider,” said Troedsson.
Having said that, Troedsson did not rule out the possibility of mod tools being introduced at a later stage, saying “Mod tools won’t be in Battlefield 3 when we ship it, but I can say this – we have heard the community loud and clear. We are talking about it in the studio. I’m not promising that we’re going to do it in any way, but we have heard it, and we’ll see what we do in the future.”
Battlefield veterans won’t be too bothered if Battlefield 3 never gets mod tools due to the fact that the lack of mod tools is an accepted Battlefield standard. However, the idea of being able to tweak damage models, weapon load outs and so on is a prospect in which competitive gamers in particular will be interested.
Troedsson also had something to say about Origin replacing Steam. “First of all, I like the idea of Origin. I like the idea that EA is dedicated to creating a service that actually latches onto the games, lets us have a direct communication with our players. It makes it easier for us to get updates to them, it adds that social layer of having your friends in one place. There’s a lot of cool stuff in there. I can understand that people are a bit reluctant towards this in the beginning, but I would ask people to give it a shot and have a look at it. There’s been other services out there that are now very established that have had perhaps a harder time in the beginning as well.”
“Our ambition with this game is to make it available in all channels possible, retail as well as e-tail, of course. In some cases, business terms get in the way, and it’s sad when this happens and I really hope we can sort this in the future, but right now we’re not on Steam.”
The reason Battlefield 3 will not be on Steam is that Steam games are managed and updated via the Steam servers, and EA wants to maintain direct access to its community via its own digital platform, Origin. However, Steam is the biggest sales platform for PC games in the world, so it remains to be seen whether Battlefield 3’s absence from the platform affects sales.
Mod tools still an option for Battlefield 3 << Comments and views
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