EA Announces Battlefield Play4Free

Friday Electronic Arts updated its Battlefield franchise portfolio with the announcement of Battlefield Play4Free, slated to hit the PC in Spring 2011. As the name indicates, the game will offer the free-to-play model while combining most of the popular maps found in Battlefield 2 with the classes and weapons of Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

But unlike EA's other free-to-play online shooter Battlefield Heroes--which offers cartoonish characters and arcade gameplay--Battlefield Play4Free will render a more realistic experience offering 32-player online battles, signature Battlefield vehicular warfare and sandbox gameplay. The game also boasts advanced graphics and polished production values.

"We broke new ground in 2009 with the launch of Battlefield Heroes; a game that has 6M registered players worldwide. Now we are complementing that arcade shooter with a core, realistic Battlefield shooter experience that fans have been clamoring for," said James Salt, Senior Producer, Battlefield Play4Free. "Battlefield Play4Free is for serious shooter fans who are looking for a premium--but free--experience that rivals top console titles."

According to EA, players will learn new combat skills and earn in-game money to spend on weapons and equipment. They'll also have access to 16 vehicles including the Mil Mi-28 attack helicopter, the F35 VTOL jet fighter, the Russian T-90 main battle tank, and the LSV light strike vehicle.

Those who want to gain early access can register for the closed beta by heading to the official site. The closed beta officially launches on November 30, just in time for the holiday break.

Battlefield Play4Free

Ask a Category Expert

Create a new thread in the US News comments forum about this subject

Title
Subject
Title

This thread is closed for comments

21 comments

Comment from the forums

Your comment

nevertell

What OS's does it run on ? Kinda important, since I hate the boot-up time of windows. And wine just generally sucks balls. Still, both of them have progressed splendidly over the years.
kewlx

I have a 20 second (5 seconds added cause of password to type in) boot up time and I am running on a 640 WD black hardrive 7200 rpm ( also its windows 7)
samwelaye

Just as long as people cant buy better guns with real money I'd consider playing it
Maxor127

If it's reworked Battlefield 2 maps with destructible environments and Bad Company 2-quality graphics, I'll be interested. If they're just BF2 maps with 6 year old graphics and just new weapons thrown in, I'll be less interested. They may as well just make BF2 free to download.
abswindows7

Liar, my 640gb Western Digital Black was booting in 40 approx.
My new Vertex2 Boots in approx 10-15 and shuts under 5sx:)
bustapr

looks awesome. Battlefield 2 maps are the best ever.
Albyint

I love battlefield, but I must admit I dont play BC2 anymore, the game just isnt battlefield on the scale that I came to love. It seems if this is primarily designed for PC and uses BF2 maps, not the choke-point cluster **** COD/BC2 style maps, then it might be a good calling back to old school BF.

If dice screws up BF3, I will cry blood.

However this game looks really good, and I hope it lives up to the Battlefield Moniker, I will definitely give it a shot.
Travis Beane

It's BF2 graphics, BFBC2 weapons/classes, and BF Heroes microtransactions.
You know, the worst of all worlds.
At least there's more maps.

I've lost faith in DICE. They've had enough of my money, time for me to choose someone else.
Seeing as I also dislike CoD and Halo, what shooter will I play next?
Darkerson

I will have to keep an eye on this. Battlefield Heroes is fun and all, but this sounds way more interesting.
number1guy

Travis BeaneIt's BF2 graphics, BFBC2 weapons/classes, and BF Heroes microtransactions.You know, the worst of all worlds.At least there's more maps.I've lost faith in DICE. They've had enough of my money, time for me to choose someone else.Seeing as I also dislike CoD and Halo, what shooter will I play next?

Nothing. Stop playing them because you obviously don't enjoy them.
Travis Beane

number1guyNothing. Stop playing them because you obviously don't enjoy them.

Not any of the new ones...
TeKEffect

What is EA up to...free games. I don't see how they do this. They also let you return opened games. I got the medal of honor, hated it and EA refunded my full purchase price when I mailed it back. Are they trying to win hearts and minds with this stuff?
rpmrush

It's not free..ask anyone who played Battlefield Heroes. You cannot compete unless you buy the upper end weapons. At first, on the lower ranks you will be fine. But once the rankings go up and high end weapons are available for $$$ you will be murdered with your free weapon. It will be the equivalent of a knife in a rocket fight.
ochho87

rpmrushIt's not free..ask anyone who played Battlefield Heroes. You cannot compete unless you buy the upper end weapons. At first, on the lower ranks you will be fine. But once the rankings go up and high end weapons are available for $$$ you will be murdered with your free weapon. It will be the equivalent of a knife in a rocket fight.

that's actually not true, all weapons are available through in-game points. If I remember correctly, you can only "buy" with real-money the costumes and stuff
randomizer

BF2 is my favourite title in the series. It took what was good about BF1942 and made it better, although I do miss submarines. Everything after BF2 is just a new paint job though.

Quote:

..Windows boot up time really? Get a SSD drive it takes mine 12 seconds to boot to desktop and shuts down in 2.

You shouldn't need to spend copious amounts of money to band-aid fix a problem that is elsewhere.
dEAne

more like ghost recon to me.
firebee1991

I wonder if they're going to make extensive use of in-game advertising, like Battlefield 2 on crack. That would be better than a 'pay for sweet guns' kind of system.
rextrendy

This is going to be horrible. With BF Heroes you have to get a competitive weapon. And then they come out with even better weapons later so you have to upgrade again. And it just keeps going like that with all aspects of the game. I would rather buy the game once then have to pay for it over and over again.
rextrendy

edit: *pay to get a competitive weapon*
eddieroolz

This game is much like the model of War Rock and many other Korean F2P-FPS. They have quite a bit of players worldwide, actually. You don't even need to buy a weapon with real cash if you're good and earn a ton of in-game cash - real money just makes it easier for you to get that top ranking weapon.

Display All 21 comments

Display more comments