No split-screen co-op for Battlefield 3

By Robert Purchese Published 18 August, 2011

"You have to be online," says DICE.

There won't be split-screen co-op in Battlefield 3, developer DICE has confirmed.

"No, you have to be online to do it [co-op]," DICE general manager Karl Magnus Troedsson told Gaming Lives at Gamescom 2011.

Co-op levels will be separate to the main Battlefield 3 campaign. At launch, said Troedsson, there will be six co-op levels to play. But random factors will freshen the co-op levels to add replay value.

Troedsson reckoned co-op levels take around 20 to 45 minutes each to finish - depending on level, your ability and the difficulty you're attempting.

When a co-op level is finished you'll be able to compare times and scores with friends. Points will be awarded for displays of teamwork. And it's score that Troedsson and team want to emphasize in Battlefield 3.

DICE demonstrated console co-op for the first time during the EA Gamescom 2011 press conference this week.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (45) Latest comment 7 months ago

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  • svenjl #1 9 months ago

    No split screen, huh Dice? Well that sucks donkey balls.

  • asphaltcowboy #2 9 months ago

    You were expecting split-screen?

  • coojam #3 9 months ago

    Boo, split screen Spec Ops on MW2 is awesome. Still great to have co-op though.

  • jablonski #4 9 months ago

    No split screen, no dice.

  • dirtysteve #5 9 months ago

    I actually wasn't expecting split-screen anyway, did Battlefield ever have it?

  • Subdominator #6 9 months ago

    6 levels at launch = yay for DLC. Probably the way Activision does it, 3 multiplayer maps and one coop map for 10 to 15 bucks, so you have to buy everything even if you're not interested in multiplayer.

    random factors = we put no effort in it. They basically give you a level and enemies are placed randomly. The same thing that games like Rainbow Six have been doing. Back then nobody would've dared to call that a coop mode. Truth is: BF3 has no coop mode. They just have levels where you can play against humans and those where you play against bots. It's like calling Firefight in Halo Reach or Horde in Gears of War 3 the coop mode, which it obviously is not. Cause they have coop campaign.

    BTW: MW3 has dedicated servers on PC. That's about the first good thing Activision has done in years.

  • Stranded87 #7 9 months ago

    Can't say I was expecting split screen from a Battlefield game anyway. That said if it had featured split screen it would have been a must buy for me, and since it doesn't it remains a maybe.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #8 9 months ago

    Split-screen would have been nice but I didn't expect it at all given the technical limitations of the consoles.

  • metalangel #9 9 months ago

    A bit of a shame, but also nice would be System Link play (but how will we track your worthless stats!).

    Oh, and how about the ability to just play alone, on an empty map, to practice vehicles and such?

  • svenjl #10 9 months ago

    No, Asphaltcowboy, not expecting - just wishing and therefore it sucks aforementioned animal's delicates. The fact that it doesn't, like some for some other people, means it is less appealing for me. It doesn't mean the game as a whole is now terrible. I like split screen offline co-op such as with Gears of War and MW2. Always fun to hang with a buddy and a few beers in the same space.

  • geeza2020 #11 9 months ago

    Not fussed, I like to have a whole screen to myself when playing battlefield thanks.

  • mrlaurentisdead #12 9 months ago

    OH FINE. I'll buy it then, I've watched enough of your bloody videos to finally tip over the line to pre-ordering, in a 'news' story about a negative lack of feature in the damn game. Bloody hype. Really looking forward to this, for God's sake. Stupid game looks great.

  • TruSmiles #13 9 months ago

    That's a shame, it seems less and less games are featuring offline co-op. I want to be able to continue playing offline multiplayer with my hubby as we don't want to invest in multiple consoles and TV's just to play online together. That's a silly way of doing it.

  • Stranded87 #14 9 months ago

    Love how anyone that posts disappointment at a lack of split screen in something gets negged. The only two posts i've ever noticed myself being negged on were ones that lamented a lack of split screen. What's wrong with wanting split screen in things? I understand technical limitations and cost sometimes make it not worthwhile for a developer, but there are still a lot of people out there who enjoy playing in split screen.

    Personally although online is generally more convenient I would always much rather play with/against someone in the same room, it's a lot more sociable and fun and it's a shame that it's a dying feature.
    Edited by Stranded87 at 18/08/11 @ 13:03

  • LazyNinjaUk #15 9 months ago

    I'm sure about a month ago they said there was 10 co-op levels, now there is 6?! Fucksake, I'm sure some EA marketing tool thought the consumer was getting dangerously close to having their money's worth and decided the other 4 levels were perfect for project $10. If it wasn't for the fact the standard multiplayer is going to kick some serious arse, I'd be seriously annoyed.

  • Subdominator #16 9 months ago

    You're right, one and a half months ago they announced 10 coop levels:

    "The confirmation comes from DICE's Patrick Bach, who confirmed 10 co-op missions in the latest issue of PSM3, according to ThatVideoGameBlog."

    But this is not related to project 10 dollar. For that they are already offering the multiplayer map back Back to Karkand at launch. They probably just figured why give us ten levels when they can give us 6 now and 4 as DLC later. Game prices may have stayed the same for the last decade but if you take DLC into account they went up by nearly 40 %.

  • arcam #17 9 months ago

    Game prices may have stayed the same for the last decade...

    They haven't. Last gen AA games used to be £29.99, now they are £39.99. That's a rise of 33%.

  • mortiz666 #18 9 months ago

    Will there be any split screen in BF3? Not that I care because I'll be getting the PC version but one of the best aspects about MW2 and subsequently BLOPS was getting some mates round and having a crack at Spec Ops or local multiplayer. Screen size was tiny and the frame rate sucked balls but it was still fun.
    Edited by mortiz666 at 18/08/11 @ 13:37

  • Stranded87 #19 9 months ago

    @beIIy

    I'm not worried, it's just that a defence of split screen almost always seems to yield negative reactions, which seems strange.

  • CrumpledPaper #20 9 months ago

    But will I be able to drive sports cars?

  • Trigga_Tybalt #21 9 months ago

    Post deleted at 15:43:01 23-02-2012

  • Breach #22 9 months ago

    Just give me my Chevrolet Camaro and I'll be happy. The community have been crying out for them apparently

  • WinterSnowblind #23 9 months ago

    Split-screen co-op is the only reason I play any FPS.

    Not complaining about the game (I have no interest in it regardless) just pointing it out. Some people actually still do have real friends and leaving out features like this is just as bad as not including online co-op in a game.

  • rottingyoda #24 9 months ago

    The multiplayer better be ground breaking with so few maps.

    Good chance it will at least be incredable...

  • arcam #25 9 months ago

    @CrumpledPaper

    Not sports cars, but BF3 does have minivans, they should be fun.

    *edit: Sorry, not minivan, I mean minimap. BF3 has a minimap.
    Edited by arcam at 18/08/11 @ 14:12

  • TheEarlOfZinger #26 9 months ago

    loooool @ the sports car comments

    Even funnier that the page/story has now been removed

  • Breach #27 9 months ago

    I want Camaros. More importantly I want the news story put back up cos it's the funniest thing I have ever read on EG
    Edited by Breach at 18/08/11 @ 14:22

  • kassmageant #28 9 months ago

    dissapointed, but guess it's better to have something polished to perfection, rather than a lot of half-assed set-pieces that come together to form mediocre product

  • TheEarlOfZinger #29 9 months ago

    @kassmageant

    Don't worry the Camaros will be nicely polished. With turtle wax.

  • metalangel #30 9 months ago

    @Subdominator: No doubt the other four co-op missions will already be on the disc, and just be 'unlocked' as 'VIP content' as per BC2.

  • billy-beauts #31 9 months ago

    No split screen multiplayer! And this is the game all the COD haters on the internet flick their little beans over. What a joke!

  • GrizzleBoy #32 9 months ago

    I must be one of the few who would rather die in a fire than play FPS games in split screen, what with the fucked up screen ratio/smaller screen space/etc.

  • mattk84 #33 9 months ago

    No split screen multiplayer! And this is the game all the COD haters on the internet flick their little beans over. What a joke!

    Why is it a joke? I would imagine split-screen co-op players as a percentage are extremely low. Battlefield is all about the multiplayer.

  • geeza2020 #34 9 months ago

    billy-beauts - Haven't you got an appointment to go gargle Koticks hairy ballsack right now?

  • vmanb #35 9 months ago

    Must admit that the more i hear about this game the less i want it, its gone from a pre order day one purchase to i might pick it up after christmas. Online pass, no split screen and only a few muiltplayer maps to start= not really interested anymore tbh

  • gintoki #36 9 months ago

    The death of local co-op is looming ever closer and it's a tragedy. No local co-op no sale.

  • Climhazzard #37 9 months ago

    @wintersnowblind So people who play co-op online aren't doing it with their 'real' friends. Biggest load of bull i've heard in a long time.

  • CamberGreber #38 9 months ago

    I wish PC game came with splitscreen more often.

    Splitscreen looks alot better when shared in full Native 1080p.

    I still play left 4 dead in 1080p splitscreen with my friends using to 360 controllers for windows.

  • inutaihanyou #39 9 months ago

    "Real friends" meaning people they have over once in a while for parties, or social events, things like that. Even just to hand out really

  • ajaxpliskin #40 9 months ago

    Who was expecting such a processor intensive game to run on split screen?

  • metalangel #41 9 months ago

    @beIIy: My company has an internal website with newsposts, people got so upset by the fact that their thoughts (however ignorant or wrong) could be downvoted that they've recently removed the neg option, leaving only a thumbs up.

  • Mister-Wario #42 9 months ago

    I like having a split-screen option. Not all of us have friends to play with online.

  • svenjl #43 9 months ago

    The problem with multiplayer shooters is that you often get matches infested by twits who jump like jittery frogs while you are trying to shoot them. That's about as UN-realistic as it gets. It got to the point where I stopped playing BF2 multiplayer and just played against bots. I don't want my experience ruined by anonymous morons, so I prefer co-op modes including split-screen. BF3 looks truly amazing, buuuuut...

  • Obli #44 9 months ago

    No, you have to play RAGE to do it (play co-op split screen) :)

  • HookSlicer #45 7 months ago

    Not happy.So I buy the game and because I have no broadband connection I have to miss out on half the game.Not even system link.Why are games developers so fixed on online content.I wanna play with people I know in the flesh,not some stranger I will never meet.This game looks great too.At least on MW2 they had local co-op missions,why can't Dice sort this out?