At E3 2011, Electronic Arts announced that new copies of the PlayStation 3 version of Battlefield 3 would come with DICE's 2009 downloadable Battlefield 1943. It hasn't been brought up since then, so most figured it was safe to assume that nothing had changed. Why would it have? If EA and DICE said it would come with a free copy of 1943, than it would come with a free copy of 1943, right?
Well, not quite. Now, with copies of the game arriving in gamers' hands worldwide, it's becoming apparent that something has, indeed, gone awry.
Simply put, the PlayStation 3 version of Battlefield 3 doesn't come with Battlefield 1943 anymore. It's not on the disc. It's not on a printed code. It's not on a super-secret USB drive hidden inside of the game's box. It's just not included at all. Instead, the Limited Edition of BF3 comes with the Back to Karkand expansion, which is actually the same thing that the Xbox 360 comes with. Hooray?
That's right! It comes with a single map instead of an entire (promised) game. The only silver lining comes in a tweet from the official Battlefield Twitter, stating that "In lieu of 1943 being available on disk for PS3 customers, EA has made all BF3 expansions available early to PS3 customers," but that's more of a win for Sony than it is for customers.
It's strange that EA and DICE would handle this so strangely. They made a promise at a highly-publicized press conference and then completely failed to live up to it, and instead of fessing up early on, they let gamers find out when they cracked open the box. We're absolutely baffled. EA will likely be commenting more on this as the day goes on, so we'll be sure to update you on what they say, so stay tuned for some good, old-fashioned excuse-making!
