DICE explains BF3 PC Patch delay

Earlier today DICE released a massive patch for the PS3 version of Battlefield 3. PC gamers will have to wait a while to get it though, a delay which DICE executive producer Patrick Bach attributes to console certification processes.

Speaking to PC Gamer, Bach was asked whether the PC patch is being delivered in one big lump instead of incremental updates due to console manufacturers’ requirements.

“Yes,” he replied. “There are benefits to it, because you get proper testing. There’s a lot of process that is there to guarantee a great gameplay experience.

“We have had problems with patching in things like Battlefield 2 where you had to patch the patch because the patch screwed it up and then you have to apply a patch to the patch to the patch. And that’s, from a player perspective, that’s not a great experience – ‘Oh is this the 6.8 patch or the 6.9? Because the 6.8 broke the game and now you need to unbreak it!’ So getting focus and testing and all those things is actually a positive.”

But Bach went on to admit it was a frustrating situation to be in since the developer can’t be as immediate with its fixes as it’d like.

“It’s very frustrating when it comes to… you have the fix, it’s done but you can’t roll it out. But again, it’s not unique to us – everyone lives in this reality.

“Our problem with support is we have a very big and complex game, so if something needs to be fixed, we need to be sure that it doesn’t break something at the other end and again, like I said, we don’t want to do emergency fixes to compensate for a problem in a specific area.”

Source: PC Gamer