Battlefield 3 PS3 ships sans Battlefield 1943 bonus, EA counters with early DLC

by Ludwig Kietzmann on Oct 26th 2011 9:30AM

EA and Sony have made a pair of announcements regarding exclusive goodies linked to the PlayStation 3 version of Battlefield 3 -- and we failed to realize that one invalidated the other. The free copy of Battlefield 1943, DICE's de facto console-exclusive shooter, didn't make it into PS3 copies of Battlefield 3 as originally intended.

Responding to questions on Twitter, the official Battlefield account offered the following: "In lieu of 1943 being available on disk for PS3 customers, EA has made all BF3 expansions available early to PS3 customers."

This refers to Sony and EA's ongoing exclusivity deal, which sees Battlefield 3 add-ons become available (for purchase) one week early on PS3. EA's switcheroo lets you buy new maps for Battlefield 3, then, at the expense of the game for which you never could. Thanks?

Via: NeoGAF
Source: @Battlefield

Tags: battlefield-1943, battlefield-3, dice, dlc, ea, playstation, ps3, psn

Reader Comments (84)

im now going to punch a squirrel, back in a few

@Oli Hanshi Aww, don't do that.. Squirrels are too cute..

Punch a cat in the ribs instead.

Now chances are everyone who buys BF3 already has BF1943 but I definitely don't see how this fixes the problem of forgetting to ship the game with something promised. They should just use trophy info and mail every one whose played BF3 a voucher.

What a fantastic game launch, I'm glad nothing went wrong...

I for one don't need a 3rd copy of BF1943. I bought it the day it came out for the PS3 on PSN. And then I eventually bought BF:BC2, which came with it. So a 3rd copy would have been too much. Thats where I draw the line.

@hanger3com

That's what I was wondering. I get that people are upset that they were promised something for free and didn't get it, but does ANYBODY care about BF1943 that hasn't already been playing it for like 3 years? Especially considering a brand-new Battlefield game literally just came out yesterday? How would you have time to play 1943, even if you wanted to?

@hanger3com

You miss the fact that EA said it would be included with the disk. Whether its your first or tenth copy, it was supposed to be there. That is why people are mad. Its like false advertising.... promising something that doesn't come with the product.

@(Unverified) Yeah, and I'm still waiting for the PC version of BF1943. EA did say they were coming out with it?

So, the PS3 userbase was pretty much lied too.

Someone needs to be held responsible. The video game community cannot tolerate something is stupid as this.

@MAINEiac4434 Crap, "AS stupid as this". That's embarrassing. Why can't we have an edit button?

@MAINEiac4434

Because it's much more fun watching people comment on their posts about how embarrassed they are and how they wish they had an edit button.

We'll be-
JERKING YOU!!
JERKING YOU!!
JERKING YOU!!
JERKING YOU!!
JERKING YOU!!
JERKING YOU!!

Aw poor baby, please DO return your copy of BF3 so we don't have to play with your ass. MW will be waiting for you to find new corners to camp in, noob tubes to over use, sniper rifles for you to quick scope with, and the lack of ammo available because you use an entire clip on a guy to not kill him. That does sound fantastic doesn't it?

@mikemyerz666

Wow, I really hope you're not indicative of the HARDCORE BATTLEFIELD 3 SO REAL community.

Yeah, over seas not here.

Wow that is really crappy EA/DICE. I'm not even buying BF3 and that makes me mad. Figure out what went wrong and send everyone a code for a download of 1943. I highly doubt anyone cares about being able to buy things early. If we did, we would have "demanded" that we get the stupid CoD packs at the same time as xbox.

What's next? Is my copy of Assassin's Creed: Revelations not going to include AC1?

EA has managed to make buying a console game as complicated as buying a PC game. Before playing this game I had to enter 2 DLC codes (granted one was a preorder bonus), download the day 1 update, and install the texture pack. Along with that they've removed $10 from the trade-in value of this game. Then the 360 servers go down on launch day after they had a beta specifically to test the servers.

Even buying the game was a nightmare. Every preorder at Best Buy took at least 5 minutes to process. I had to provide my address and phone number multiple times. They had to wait for the system to generate a DLC code for the preorder bonus, etc. etc.

What is happening to our console games?!

Thank gawd I kept the receipt. I've nearly cut all EA titles from my PS3 collection. I just can't bring myself to giving more money to an corporation that has no respect for their customers.

EA can swing on my balls.

"To make up for not giving you the free thing we said we would, please accept this big pile of NOTHING!!!! MUWAHAHAH YOU ******* IDIOTS!!!!"

Well.... another reason why I will not purchase this game. BRAVO EA!
Eat@ss.

So if you don't care about DLC then you're SOL. Nice.

You do realize it's not specifically EA's fault. They're a company trying to protect their assets. Sure they're deal to make up for the lack of the free game isnt quite good enough, you get to spend your money sooner but they do have say roughly a 3rd of their sales to protect so if they included the BF1943 on the PS3 copy, Microsoft could slam them last minute and say no to the game. I think they should give the first DLC free to PS3 users for a week or so that might make up for it.

@Quayle

or they could have come out and said that they decided not to include it with the PS3 version...

Soooo...online pass requirement on a quintessential online multiplayer shooter, major server issues on one of the platforms, botched content promises...

Can't wait to see what they do next.

HAHAHAHAHAHA - "we promised you something free, but instead we're going to give you something you have to pay for - just a bit earlier".

Even if you don't care about getting 1943, this is still shady. Not only do you not get free content, you get a minuscule exclusivity window that THEY made money on. No free content and EA/DICE makes more money from Sony. Cool.

First WB with the Arkham Asylum nonsense and now this. Boy, these publishers sure do like spitting in our faces.

People really need to start boycotting EA. Origin spyware, bait and switch tactics, shutting servers down 2 years after launch, terrible servers in the first place, the list keeps growing. Since I am weak, I will continue my half-boycott I started earlier this year of never paying more than $15 for an EA game and never installing Origin on my PC ever. Patience is your friend everyone, there's plenty of good games to play these days without putting up with companies who cheat and inconvenience their customers like EA and whoever was responsible for the Arkham City fiasco.

@Cranky Penguin Battlefield and Batman are, to me, better than pretty much all other games out there, so it's a bit of a leap for me to just ignore them. And I'm not sure how Origin is classified as spyware.

You do have a point, though. But then, that's why I don't buy Ubisoft games on PC.

I hope their next DLC is good servers. Id pay for that!

This is a screwjob of epic proportions.

I wonder how this will be handeled on the retail side? All those Gamestop and Best Buy employees who told customers to buy it on the PS3 to get the free copy of BF1943?

I think the article was poorly worded, because this should have way more than 75 comments by now. Everyone who bought the PS3 version of this game are not getting something they were told they were getting.

Yeah, I'm sure there won't be any lawsuits. Can't wait to find out what happened here.

I just happened to notice in the BattleLog screen that PS3 only gets the DLC one week earlier whereas Microsoft seemed to get at least a whole month for all the COD.....errr.

I do enjoy the game either way.

Uh, this is Sony & EA we're talking about here. If you expected any more from them you are just plain dumb.

Observe the track record of either company and you would know they are 2 of the biggest scrooges in gaming. Lying to their userbase about free content that was to be on their AAA title and instead saying "Hey, you can pay for stuff early though!" is pretty in line with their practices.

That anyone still uses a PS3 without hacking it to shit is an absolute mystery to me, we all have the keys now, and these companies (Sony & EA) do not deserve a dime of anyone's money..

These corporations exist because of the customers, not the other way around. Remember that.

As much as I want Battlefield 3, this was the reason that I preordered it, and I had to preorder the limited edition. I heard about this a day or two ago from the retailer that I preordered it from. I'm really unhappy about this. If they had said it weeks or even months ago, it'd be a bit better.

But early DLC? Oh right, so you rip us off, EA, then charge us for your mistake. If the DLC was free, fine, but they just screwed over everyone who preordered it. I'm not going to pay for my preorder. I'll cancel it and buy the regular edition instead.

Previous 50 Comments

Battlefield 3

Battlefield 3 PS3 ships sans Battlefield 1943 bonus, EA counters with early DLC

Reader Comments (84)

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 9:59AM Oli Hanshi said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 10:39AM StarcasM said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 10:00AM KinseySS said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 10:19AM CoconutSkittle said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 10:24AM hanger3com said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 11:07AM baby sea tuna said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 12:33PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 12:43PM hanger3com said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 10:26AM MAINEiac4434 said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 10:27AM MAINEiac4434 said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 10:54AM Copybass Ah jeez zombies said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 10:30AM StarcasM said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 4:56PM mikemyerz666 said

Posted: Oct 27th 2011 11:18AM Copybass Ah jeez zombies said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 4:53PM mikemyerz666 said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 11:09AM RasenganFury said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 11:09AM Player1 said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 11:10AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 11:27AM Dick Socrates said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 11:27AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 12:17PM Gemini Ace said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 12:25PM Quayle said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 12:35PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 12:49PM Altairio said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 1:04PM Axcalibur said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 2:02PM SgtBananas said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 2:08PM blunote said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 3:15PM Cranky Penguin said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 5:02PM radioactivez0r said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 4:23PM JTRoN said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 6:01PM Hoops said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 6:12PM Drazzamatazz said

Posted: Oct 26th 2011 8:21PM Mordecai Walfish said

Posted: Oct 27th 2011 2:16AM TCJJ said

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