Bad Company 2 PC beta delayed

By Robert Purchese Published 26 November, 2009

Marching to 2010 but with added features.

DICE has pushed PC beta for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 back to "very early next year".

The good news, studio bigwig Gordon Van Dyke explained on the game's blog, is that desktop users will get an improved build of the game.

"With the huge success of the PS3 Beta we decided to drastically increase the PC Beta's capacity to insure as many people as possible could participate," wrote Van Dyke.

"Unfortunately this meant we had to delay the Beta to very early next year giving us more planning time to make it happen and implement more optimizations."

The PC build will support 32 players rather than 24, as on console. Advanced DirectX 10 and 11 features are supported, as are numerous peripherals like joysticks, 3D visuals and more.

There's some squad play stuff and friend support, plus - you'll be glad to hear - dedicated servers. BF:BC2 even allows private "professional-grade" servers to be hired for clan use.

"Everyone gets non-stop action with no connection penalties based on some other player's internet," wrote Van Dyke.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will be out on 5th March 2010. Our gamepages below have full packs of coverage.

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.

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

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Comments (18) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • ignatiusjreilly #1 2 years ago

    Didn't know the game only supports 32 players :(

    I was hoping this could be the new BF2 for me but 16 vs 16 is more of a skirmish than a war.

  • tobsen #2 2 years ago

    Battlefield in stereoscopic 3D.... I should not try that out because it sounds like the ultimate drug to kill all your spare time with.

  • Crembo #3 2 years ago

    I'm afraid this is not BF3 yet. I still have high hopes for BF3 :(

  • davisorle #4 2 years ago

    "dedicated servers. BF:BC2 even allows private "professional-grade" servers to be hired for clan use"

    I wish IW were serious and professional enough and take the PC version half that seriously and give some more meaning to it than not taking advantage of the fact there is a damn PC version of their game. The clans ive had ever since Counter Strike Source are not based on FPS at all. This makes me automatically reconsider but I dont think ill have time to do this all over. Anyhow. Great to hear this,. They got my attentio n and I think ill be buying this.

    @ignatiusjreilly
    Why would you need more? Itws not too many but more than enough. Its Bad Company ad not based on the original I P which is "war" online FPS. I'll never forget the good times of the first ever title they released. Awesome good times.

  • arcam #5 2 years ago

    @davisorle (I'm ignatiusjreilly, forgotten my pword)

    It's not that I need more, it's just I was hoping this would be like BF2. I can't criticise the game for being something it's not, but I used to play either 32 vs 32 or 64 vs 64 on BF2 and this obviously is going to be a very different game. It's all good though, I'll just wait for BF3.

    edit: I've never played Bad Company before - if I had I'm sure I wouldn't have been disappointed by this news.
    Edited by 1 at 26/11/09 @ 19:25

  • matrim83 #6 2 years ago

    64 player game will not happen unless its a PC exclusive. They would have to make new, bigger maps than the ones that they are shipping with the console version or the whole thing would turn into a poor clusterfuck. Better to have 32 players in a map that is designed for 32 players rather than 64 in a map that was meant for half that number.

    32 is fine IMO.

    Anyway I am pretty sure there will be a mod at some point to rectify that.

  • hiddenranbir #7 2 years ago

    I want this now! :(

  • xAx #8 2 years ago

    @arcam

    since when was BF2 128 player?

  • HandOfBeadle #9 2 years ago

    I wonder if the PC version will have the prone stance?

    Really loving the PS3 version at the moment. I also seem to be awesome at it (ahem), which almost makes me want to get this on console and PC.

    Oh, and 16 vs 16 is plenty. The last thing you will think when you play this is that not much is going on. 12 v 12 is hectic enough as it is.

  • Crovax20 #10 2 years ago

    professional grade... My clan has got professional grade servers, top of the line stuff. And I am sure we will not be able to host the game as we want it. Because to have a ranked server, you have to hire one from EA. Funny huh.

  • Buran #11 2 years ago

    32 player limit is due the size of the maps, and the same reason because the jets were removed. For 64 player map it will be BF 3 in 2010.

  • Joco84 #12 2 years ago

    Could anyone kindly tell me whether they know how to get on the BF:BC2 Beta test for PS3?

    I've been trying to find out, but can't find any information anywhere :(

  • XAleX360 #13 2 years ago

    @tobsen : I'm gonna have that, coupled with Battlefield iconic sound with X-Fi Titanium that renders it 3D through my Sennheiser headphones.

    It's gaming madness. I can barely wait.

    BTW, congratz, DICE. You do believe in serious gaming on PC.

  • XAleX360 #14 2 years ago

    @ignatius : Bad Company 1 on console was 24 players only, Bad Company 2 on console is 24 players only. I found BF2 was too dispersive with its 64 players, and besides that with the added destructibility with Frostbite Engine you feel more in a real war than you ever did in BF2. I am in the PS3 beta (which already rocks) and I think 32 players on PC is the perfect size considered this.

  • el_pollo_diablo #15 2 years ago

    mmm. Another slice of delicious Battlefield.

  • ChaK #16 2 years ago

    just can't wait, period.


    And BF3 too (pc exclusive I hope), it would be cool by the end of next year :D

    my need my BF fix, BF2 gets a little old graphic wise and BC1 is on console, I played it, but hey, darn controller.

  • HandOfBeadle #17 2 years ago

    Joco84 - you need a Beta key and a US PSN account. The former has been given away by all sorts of places so you may have to scrabble around for it; for the latter, search Youtube.

  • glaeken #18 2 years ago

    The player cap can probably be modded on the PC version anyway to increase it.

    Personally I think 32 players is about ideal but it does depend on the map size to an extent. I remembering playing quite a lot of games with 128 players back in BF2 and with that many players I think the game becomes far more about luck than skill.

    I actually think the gold rush mode in BC is better for player counts anyway than the traditional capture points in BF games as gold rush focuses the action on just one spot and even with 24 players it feels quite crowded sometimes.