Battlefield 3 beta simultaneous players up 600% over BC2

DICE has announced that six times the number of simultaneous players are participating in the Battlefield 3 beta compared to Bad Company 2.

DICE said today that more than six times the number of users are playing the Battlefield 3 beta simultaneously than were seen for the Bad Company 2 test last year.

The Bad Company 2 beta attracted 2 million participants in January 2010.

According to a post from studio GM Karl Magnus Troedsson over on Battleblog, the amount of players diddling about in the beta makes it "doubly important to test everything."

"The biggest reason for running the Open Beta is to stress test our servers and back end," he said. "Already, we are seeing six times the number of simultaneous players in the Battlefield 3 Open Beta compared to the Beta for Battlefield: Bad Company 2. The fact that Battlefield 3 is clearly our biggest game launch ever by a magnitude of six makes it doubly important to test everything."

No specific number of simultaneous players was given.

Troedsson added: "We are constantly updating the News section on Battlelog with information on what we are fixing from Open Beta to final. We appreciate your time and your feedback. The data and feedback from the Open Beta will not only directly affect the final game of Battlefield 3, but its future development and support."

Troedsson also said the beta is based on software which is over a month old, and not representative of the final game.

"The Battlefield 3 Open Beta is based on software that is more than one month old," he said. "We need to test the new back end dedicated server structure we’ve built. Not only have we built a new game engine, but an entirely new back end system so that everyone can enjoy the benefits of dedicated servers on all platforms.

"Just like normal procedure when releasing a game, the Open Beta has had long lead times due to testing, certification, and setting up. This means that the code you are now playing is actually quite early and not representative of the final game.

"We had to do this in order to have as many people testing as possible, in order to ensure a top quality experience when the game is released. However, we’re confident in the Battlefield formula and confident that our fans will support us in order to make Battlefield 3 better."

Over the weekend, DICE made a list of changes to expect when the game ships later this month. Look it over through the link.