Why the Battlefield 3 Beta was a Bad Business Decision

This is Battlefield, NOT Call of Duty. The large scale battles and vehicular combat have always been at the heart of the Battlefield franchise, it’s what attracts fans of the series over CoD’s multiplayer time and time again. So why the hell would you release a beta that highlights none of those gameplay elements?

[PCRockStar]

Are these real articles or is this spam?

[ali711arab]

Should have been under opinion piece, fixed now.

[zeeshan]

I know this is BETA but I just can't understand who the heck decided to release this glitch fest! I mean, I am THIS close to cancelling my pre order. THIS CLOSE Dice! You hear me? THIS CLOSE!!

[blumatt]

While I was disappointed to see zero vehicle gameplay in the beta, I'm still going to buy the game regardless. If the game has half of the destruction and vehicle mayhem that Bad Company 2 has, then it's definitely worth buying.

[SweatyFlorida]

@Zeeshan, well at least they fixed the annoying ground glitch, most notably the area around MCOM A in the park.

[gamingdroid]

The demo masqueraded as a beta definitely doesn't put the game in good light, that is for sure.

A month old build four weeks before release plays like a glitchfest that resembles an Alpha as opposed to a Beta.

The sniping is even worse now and it took me a whole two minutes into the game to find myself below the map and popping in and out. It was atrocious!

The supposed "best" part of the game, wasn't even in there, vehicles. Mightly disappointed after all the hype from EA themselves.

[nolifeking]

Give the dead horse a break. At this point it's starting to feel like rape.

[SageHonor]

YES, this is why i dont like video game hype..This game was getting hyped SOOO MUCH. Now the same people who were hyping it are not shooting it down calling it a mess and overrated. This is already like the 5th article ive seen over the past couple days talking about something like this.

[SKUD]

Amen, Tell that so SEGA and the extremely dead Sonic franchise.

[Hagaf22]

Agreed. I don't know what people were expecting. I enjoy the beta, but I feel that Dice picked a map that would kinda interest the COD crowd as apposed to the true BF supporters. I don't have any concerns with the beta, I'm sure the few issues will be resolved by Dice. I'm just getting sick of these lame "Battlefield beta killed BF" articles. People are still going to by the game, and enjoy it.

[nolifeking]

I don't think this map was used to get the COD crowd, but rather to show how this game is much different. People will say OP Metro seems like a COD map, but it plays completely different.

What really kills me is how folks act as if this is the game, even if they know vehicles will be present in the retail version.

[manman6]

I haven't really played the beta but I been only hearing good things about it.

[xX-StolenSoul-Xx]

I personally hated the beta, just because it does not feel like battlefield, no vehicles. *Operation Metro*

Still i have hopes for this game and i know it will be awesome during the vehicle maps just like i love.
I'll stick to playing BC2 for now

[SH0CKW4VE]

The big ? on my mind is this;

If they made design choices to make operation metro the way they made it....have they carried over these design choices from other maps? or perhaps have they applied metros close quarters to another map?

If this is the case and it could well be the only maps worth playing might be caspian border & the karkland maps.

[isntchrisl]

Despite the lack of vehicles, the Beta feels a lot like Battlefield (which I think is a good thing).

It's got some issues (glitches, crashing), but hopefully it's true that it's based on old code and the game will launch in much better shape.

If anything, I think the people that were turned off by it are too used CoD's gameplay.

[ps92117]

Yes, we are all aware that they made a bad move with the beta. There has been plenty of articles stating exactly that.

No need for anymore of them.

[Hicken]

I guess somebody writing about games on the internet would REALLY know good business decisions.

[fooxy]

Bad business my ass, 7 of my friends decided to buy BF3 and skip MW3 this year because of the beta

[eridc3301]

I believe the beta hurt sales for this game. Remember first impressions are very important. That being said this beta is not very impressive. It's sad since I still play bfbc2 till this day. I hope this is nit another Medal of Honor.

[Hazmat13]

lack of destruction.

[nolifeking]

I personally feel this beta was a success. Obvious fault were on display for all and we (ya'll spit in their face. I'm just happy I know this beta is a fraction of what we'll really get.

[TheCopyNinja]

It's part of their evil plan to trick CoD players into thinking its all about run n' gun. Also notice how the only mode available is called "Rush".

Jk

[HeavenlySnipes]

is caused by all the BF hype EA decided to stir up. No one would be as critical (well maybe, this IS BF3 though) if they shut the hell up. Hyping gameplay (even though the low ass COD health makes the game a campers paradise), hyping the completely average console graphics (Crysis 2 is still the best looking mulit by far).

If they wanted to make a good first impression on the broader FPS market (not the COD market, I never played BF but I don't play COD either, I'm a KZ2 player who dabbled into BF for the first time with this beta as well as many others) they should have picked a 'true' BF type map with vehicles and destruction (with less bugs)