Considering the level of praise EA has given Activision for Call of Duty Elite, rumors for a similar service for Battlefield will of course come as no surprise. According to a report that Battlefieldo received from “reliable inside sources,” fans can expect the next Battlefield 3 DLC – Close Quarters – on June 12th (no mention of whether this is PS3’s release or the PC/Xbox 360 release) and a player strategy guide to be released later in the month (or earlier, the report isn’t specific). But what’s more interesting are two other dates listed as “Battlefield Premium” on June 4th and “Bonus Content” sometime in August.
Battlefield Premium will land you a number of content drops and in-game items.
It sounds like those who “subscribe” to this Premium service will receive exclusive in game content during pre-scheduled “content drops,” much like Call of Duty’s Elite service. Whether or not the ‘Premium content’ listed above is this “Bonus Content” to be released later in the Summer or if it is just content that people will get instantly when they join is currently unclear. Seeing as the description for the Bonus Content simply reads “enhance your Battlefieldâ„¢ experience with this bonus content drop,” it could be a kind of mini-DLC to be released in between Close Quarters and Armored Fury for Premium members.
How the payment for this service will work is also unclear as there are no specifications listed in the report. It could be even more like CoD Elite and require a yearly subscription or it could be a one time payment that allows users additional content or early access of some sort like what we find with DLC “Season Passes.” Considering the term “content drop” is used, it sounds like it will nearly be a carbon copy of Activision’s current subscription model.
None of this has been confirmed (yet) by EA or Dice and we all know what happens when we believe anonymous reliable sources. However, the report’s leak about the Battlefield 3 Double XP Weekend was accurate, so this insider information may have some merit after all. EA will likely shed some light on this shortly before or during E3 early next month.
