When the multiplayer beta for Electronic Arts' Battlefield: Bad Company went live, gamers raised an awful stink when they found out the best weapons went to those willing to cough up the cash.

One of the powers behind that stink was the website Sarcastic Gamer, which created a widely-circulated video that mocked the "pay to win" downloadable content business strategy. The video also encouraged Battlefield fans to boycott the upcoming game developed by DICE.

But EA and DICE have listened to the furore surrounding the DLC, and promptly confirmed to GameSpot that they will be making all weapons, even the best ones, available free to all gamers willing to put the time in to play the game.

In the beta, gamers had access to an array of weapons, but there were 10 that appeared only to be available as downloadable content or included in the pricier collector's edition.

EA tried to address initial outrage, saying that five of the 10 weapons appearing as downloadable content in the beta were intended to be part of a promotional campaign, and incorrectly flagged, but the other five would only be available as paid DLC or through the collector's edition.

Battlefield: Bad Company senior producer Karl-Magnus Troedsson explained, "We had some weapons that we were planning to release through various marketing programs, but they were actually flagged there like you were supposed to buy these weapons through Xbox Live Marketplace, and that was a misunderstanding between marketing and us the developers."

He said that now, all weapons will be available immediately for collector's edition buyers, and gamers who purchase the standard edition will have to put in the time to reach top level to unlock all weapons.

Bottom line, everyone who buys the game will have access to all the weapons without the requirement of paying more for them.

Troedsson said, "DICE is built upon the multiplayer community, and we do listen to what people say out there. When we saw this big uprise ... we just decided that all weapons will be free in the game, and that's how it is now."

Courtesy of CVG

Apr 10, 2008