Battlefield 3: DICE discusses multiplayer differences between console and PC

DICE studio head Patrick Bach has said the firm has to make a few concessions with the console multiplayer in Battlefield 3, due to quality concerns.

According to Bach, the reason maps will be smaller on console versions, as well as having 24-players max is due to scalability.

"The biggest difference between the PC and console version of Battlefield 3 is that we have 64 players on the PC and 24 players maximum on console," Bach explained to GameZone.

"The rest is more or less the same: we use the same engine, the same technology, the same animation system, the same lighting system. Our aim is to give the player the exact same experience and not try to dumb down the console version.

"If you want the same quality of game, I would say it's really, really hard. We tried to get more players in [to the console version] but then you need to scale down all the graphics, scale down all the destructibility, and sometimes you need to scale down all the map sizes. Everything is a compromise on: where do you cut?"

Bach said just because some games "have more players," doesn't mean it will provide a "better [multiplayer] experience," and that BF3 fans would be "very upset" over the game looking worse if it were to implement 64 player maps on consoles.

He goes on to say the maps for console and PC are "more or less the same," but the former's are not necessarily smaller.

"When we say they are smaller, it's not that we have cut them in half," he explained. "But we tried to compact them slightly to keep the action up. If you compare it to Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the maps weren't really small on console. We actually had huge maps even for console. We have the same kind of angle on it right now. We want to create the same experience for PC as for consoles."

Battlefield 3 is due in October with a public beta slated for sometime in September.

Thanks, Shack.