iGame is one of EA’s Ranked Server Provider (RSP) partners in South Africa. The open beta concluded recently for PC, giving all RSPs the chance to test their servers and equipment.

iGame has provided us with some insight into the activity on their servers and what they have learnt from the testing phase in preparation for the full retail launch.

•    The Battlefield 3 beta took place from 26 September to 10 October 2011.
•    During that period, between iGame and DICE, over 160 hours of a total of admin time was logged, testing, monitoring and maintaining the servers, and troubleshooting any problems as they arose.
•    Between iGame and Battlefield 3 developers DICE, 1,813 e-mails were sent back and forth.
•    The total number of players across all iGame servers tallied up to 1,061, measured by unique Battlefield 3 beta Keys.
•    Client-side bandwidth consumption was +/- 110MB per hour, including connections to Battlelog and Origin.
•    Traffic per player, monitored at the Network Interface Connection (NIC) level was ±87kbit/second.

iGame Online manager Jonathan Smit said “I think the most important thing we have learnt from the Beta is how important community feedback is during live testing. Without real-time input from our testing groups and community members we would not have been able to complete the Beta successfully.”

We asked Smit what improvements and changes iGame will be implementing before the full retail launch of Battlefield 3.

“One thing that we noticed during the Beta is that with the Battlelog Squad and Platoon Structures not fully functional we had a tough time focusing population on servers that were up and running while providing feedback on why certain servers were down,” said Smit.

“Server stability is one major aspect of the beta that was worked on by both us as RSP’s and DICE. We will be using the Battlelog system to a much larger extent with the retail release, running and co-coordinating tournaments and competitions and ensuring that we can provide real-time feedback to our players.”

“In regards to the servers themselves, we have completed tweaking the dedicated hardware we have allocated to the title, so no changes there,” continued Smit.

“What we will be speaking to the community about is the game modes that they’d like to see on our servers, to make sure we provide the servers running the game modes that the players would most like to see.”

“We are currently planning on hosting the following servers [at launch]. The servers carry the same air-to-air / air-to-surface / surface-to-air ballistic missile names as in the beta,” said Smit.

•    iGame Tomahawk
•    iGame Hellfire
•    iGame Brimstone
•    iGame Phoenix
•    iGame Sidewinder
•    iGame Maverick
•    iGame Paveway
•    iGame Harm

“We will also be dedicating one server each to The SoulSlayers Clan as well as the DF Clan.”

Smit explained that the server setup is dynamic, meaning they will add and subtract servers to meet the local demand. “One thing that we firmly believe is not oversaturating the online space with server instances. There is no use in putting up 500 instances if there are only 10 players on each.”

“We’d like to thank the community who supported us during the Beta, providing feedback and information that was critical. We’d also like to point out that everyone thinking of purchasing the title will not be disappointed; never before have we seen or been part of such a concentrated effort on the part of a developer/publisher to rollout and troubleshoot servers during a beta as we have seen from DICE/EA. This dedication to the community ensures that the retail launch will be well supported,” concluded Smit.

In related news, DICE has also shared some global stats from the beta, which you can read here: Battlefield 3 beta stats are in; 1.5 billion soldiers killed.

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