DICE Responds to Battlefieldo, But What Does That Mean For the Blackout?

DICE Responds to Battlefieldo, But What Does That Mean For the Blackout?

Eder Campuzano February 23, 2012 6:45 PM EST

Score one for Battlefieldo.

After the Battlefield 3 community site threatened to go dark for 24 hours because of what community managers claimed was a lack of information from Electronic Arts regarding patches and game updates, developers at DICE responded with plans for a regular blog and a laundry list of coming fixes. DICE’s Daniel Matros addressed the group almost immediately via Twitter, saying “I support the [Battlefield] community in any way I can and if you express your opinions like this, I must understand it.”

Although some of Battlefieldo’s primary concerns were met — namely acknowledgment of its frustrations — leaders from the site have not confirmed whether or not DICE’s recent gestures were enough to call off the blackout.

Battlefieldo Managing Director Cory Niblett told Dualshockers that he was excited by the responses Matros and other DICE personnel have provided through the social networking service. And although he doesn’t believe the threat of a blackout was what instigated Matros’ post nor the announced plans for the DICE developer blog, he remains proud of the Battlefield community for its solidarity.

“For the first time in a long time … this community stood together and said, ‘Enough, it’s time to change,'” he said. “And hopefully … change we did. As gamers, we’re over 800 million strong, we have the largest voice in the entertainment industry now.”

Neither EA nor DICE have issued official statements acknowledging Battlefieldo’s threats of a blackout, but responses from Matros and fellow DICE employee Tim Kjell prove the folks behind the game are listening. Still, Niblett hopes the blackout thread and its response proves just how much the community values communication on things such as bug fixes and updates.

“I’m hopeful that last night’s events, and the threats of just how serious this community is served as a wake-up call not just for EA and DICE, but all game developers that no information and no communication with the community is unacceptable,” he said.

While Niblett and the rest of Battlefieldo haven’t said what this means for plans of a blackout, he says much will be discussed during tonight’s podcast. We’ll update you with more information as the story develops, but for now you can still follow on Twitter with the #BF3Blackout hashtag.