BF1 Servers - Thread for discussion of server rentals and settings*

[SirBobdk]

@BEASTUMOFO

Just cancelled my pre-order. E/A better wise up and let the servers owners run as they use to or they can go the way of the dinosaur.

Agree

[BC-DurtySonuva]

Edited since the thread was merged…

[Madturnip]

@Camax1de

Personally I’d say that ever since BF2 serverside has been a step backwards. I understand the idea of avoiding hacking and cheating as a reason not to give out server-side files, but one could really have both ecostystems at the same time. Being able to simply set up your own server and run it for clan-wars, practise etc. is way superior to the current system where you rent or borrow from a pool of available servers on a server usually far away. And LAN-gaming? 3ms ping and 50ms ping isn’t really comparable at all. I used to do professional gaming before, and delay difference of +50ms is really a bad hit, and saying ‘but it’s equal for all’ isn’t really a good reason - when after all even old-school games had dedicated servers. I know dedicated servers are likely not going to happen again for BF anytime soon - but I know there are many people out there that would love to have those.

Don’t give them ideas. They will offer one time use competition servers for a premium. BF1 Premium Competition Packs

[Madturnip]

@dfk_7677

Battlefield 3 sales by platform
Battlefield 4 sales by platform

As you can see from the data above, the PC sales accounted for 16% in BF3 and 10% in BF4. That means that PC gamers (and sales) become a smaller and smaller minority in the franchise.

That means that PC gamers’ wants and needs are becoming more irrelevant with the decisions made about the game itself.

The change about the server rental options affects only the PC platform. Consoles had the system that I am guessing PC will have now, with only EA servers up for rental and with limited options.

Also the PC crowd is more difficult to satisfy, as it has comparing to the consoles more competitive players (that give the game a much harder time), players that want more options and freedom (they own a pc that gives them much more options than consoles do) and much more difficult hardware to optimize for and debug, as there are so many different kinds of PCs.

To tell you the truth, I am even surprised that they even make the game for PCs anymore. From a point on it will start to cost them more to do than earn, so it will become a console only game. If I were a developer, I wouldn’t want a whining 10% of my customers to give me a hard time, while being so demanding about everything. Why not kick the whiners out and just try to increase sales to the easy going console guys by 10%?

Those numbers are incorrect… You have to factor in server hosting license fees per month, the share of each slot rented that goes to EA/DICE (on average is 50 to 60 cents so due the math on a single 64 player server.) They make their money from the PC side just as much as they do console. No physical disks to send out (on majority), no packaging to pay for, and the list goes on. So I don’t care where those numbers came from they make bank off of PC players who keep their game alive a lot longer than the 10 minute McGrubber console players.

[Jurgen_Kappke]

@Madturnip

Those numbers are incorrect… You have to factor in server hosting license fees per month, the share of each slot rented that goes to EA/DICE (on average is 50 to 60 cents so due the math on a single 64 player server.) They make their money from the PC side just as much as they do console. No physical disks to send out (on majority), no packaging to pay for, and the list goes on. So I don’t care where those numbers came from they make bank off of PC players who keep their game alive a lot longer than the 10 minute McGrubber console players.

..to say nothing of the other manufacturers of PC parts..it’s a huge market, and it’s all inter connected..if PC gaming goes to the toilet, all those other guys will to..no?

[Jurgen_Kappke]

Thanks TheQue for that!

[Weezy_760]

Server rental isn’t usually available right away anyway. Both BF3 and BF4 didn’t have rentable right away. I don’t see why BF1 would be any different.

[Rev0verDrive]

@Madturnip

Those numbers are incorrect… You have to factor in server hosting license fees per month, the share of each slot rented that goes to EA/DICE (on average is 50 to 60 cents so due the math on a single 64 player server.)

Please show me the source of your information noting DICE/EA make a single cent off of server rentals in past-current titles.

[Jurgen_Kappke]

@SummonedSith

Server rental isn’t usually available right away anyway. Both BF3 and BF4 didn’t have rentable right away. I don’t see why BF1 would be any different.

I had both BF3/BF4 servers up an running within hours of each release, not days, hours..this is how it’s been since RTCW for me.

[parkingbrake]

@Madturnip

Those numbers are incorrect… You have to factor in server hosting license fees per month, the share of each slot rented that goes to EA/DICE (on average is 50 to 60 cents so due the math on a single 64 player server.) They make their money from the PC side just as much as they do console. No physical disks to send out (on majority), no packaging to pay for, and the list goes on. So I don’t care where those numbers came from they make bank off of PC players who keep their game alive a lot longer than the 10 minute McGrubber console players.

Can you document that any portion of the prices which server hosts charge goes back to EA? If true that would represent a fair amount of money. Even at up to just thirty-five bucks a server, over thousands of servers around the world that would add up to a pretty penny every month. If EA’s new policy on rented services significantly reduces the number of servers–and I’m guessing it will on the PC platform–they are looking at a significant drop in revenue. One has to wonder how they play to make up for that, oh, say, season passes, or monthly fees, or…

[parkingbrake]

If EA doesn’t want to answer this question, they will in effect be telling us what we want to know.

The console world might be used to being treated like peasants, but this will not go down well with PC gamers.

[TheQue]

Agreed. I just want this question to have its own thread, not muddied by other server related questions. This single question is very important to many people wanting to get funds ready.

-Ray [TheQue]

[Rev0verDrive]

I’ll Bump this as well.

[TheQue]

If the profit on server rentals is only $35… even at 2000 servers rented (I think this is extremely generous), that is a mere $70,000 a month. Pay taxes on that and they are closer to $50,000 a month. That pays for 2-3 engineers after employee burden (further taxes, Healthcare, etc…). This is not exactly a huge money maker for them, contrary to popular belief. The annual revenue for the company is $4.5 billion to put it in perspective. Server rental fees is a rounding error at best.

-Ray [TheQue]

[parkingbrake]

@TheQue

If the profit on server rentals is only $35… even at 2000 servers rented (I think this is extremely generous), that is a mere $70,000 a month. Pay taxes on that and they are closer to $50,000 a month. That pays for 2-3 engineers after employee burden (further taxes, Healthcare, etc…). This is not exactly a huge money maker for them, contrary to popular belief. The annual revenue for the company is $4.5 billion to put it in perspective. Server rental fees is a rounding error at best.
-Ray [TheQue]

I’m not convinced any of that money goes back to EA, but it if does then over all the platforms it would represent hundreds of thousands of dollars a month, maybe half a million if you take into account fewer slots on some console servers. I think I saw almost 2,500 PC servers with the consoles each being a little smaller than that. As you say, that’s chicken feed to a company like EA, even if five or six million a year seems like serious money to us regular folks. Still, nobody wants to be the guy who reports that they’ll be taking in less money as a result of fewer servers (if there really is a de facto kickback)–unless of course they have some new revenue idea in mind, like a season pass…

[StarscreamUK]

PC players who keep their game alive a lot longer than the 10 minute McGrubber console players.

You can see where people are going to find flaws in your statement.

The biggest issue is that right now, nobody has the facts. Until it’s official, it’s all just supposition, rumour, guesswork and thats never a healthy mix.

[olT3lo]

@SummonedSith

Server rental isn’t usually available right away anyway. Both BF3 and BF4 didn’t have rentable right away. I don’t see why BF1 would be any different.

What are you talking about? Day 1 server rental has always been a thing as far as I know. My clan has had day 1 Battlefield servers more than once.

[parkingbrake]

@""StarscreamUK"

The biggest issue is that right now, nobody has the facts. Until it’s official, it’s all just supposition, rumour, guesswork and thats never a healthy mix.

The biggest issue is that right now EA is choosing not to release the information the PC community wants to hear. It is not credible that EA hasn’t got around to deciding how server rentals will be handled. A reasonable explanation for EA’s silence is that they don’t think we’ll be pleased when we know what they plan to do.

At this point in BF4’s history we were already talking to server hosts about setting up servers (I helped to pay for several of them), but today nobody knows what is going on, nobody can make plans. If there is a reasonable explanation for why EA is leaving us up in the air like this, okay, let’s hear it.

I would very much like to turn out to be wrong about this, I really would. I’d hope clans will be able to rent BF1 servers and administer them the same way they do now in BF4. I guess we’ll know soon enough, won’t we.

[TML8]

I just feel like info will be released after the game is out.
For me that’s a bummer, since I am holding on to my order until I know what will happen but I would like to start on day 1…
Although I enjoyed the beta and got a solid 40 hours in, the server issue is a deciding factor. Sure even if the server situation is what we fear, I might buy the game. However it’s likely then that this will happen at a later stage. If there was info about servers, and that info was positive, then I might throw in a pre-order just so I can start right off the bat.

[olT3lo]

@StarscreamUK

PC players who keep their game alive a lot longer than the 10 minute McGrubber console players.

You can see where people are going to find flaws in your statement.

The biggest issue is that right now, nobody has the facts. Until it’s official, it’s all just supposition, rumour, guesswork and thats never a healthy mix.

umm.. What game are those the stats for?