Yesterday EA dropped some news regarding Battlefield 1 that will affect all clans, players but, above all, server admins. Their new “renting system” for Battlefield 1 was briefly described.

Apart from announcing that there will be dedicated servers for Battlefield 1, EA and DICE kept a low profile regarding any news for game servers. Many gamers asked the studio and the publisher to make clear announcements and to provide the necessary information. Now they let the cat out of the bag, a blog post delivers the info everybody was waiting for.

Following the Battlefield™ 1 launch, we will start rolling out a Rent-a-Server Program that will allow players to set up their own private and public Battlefield 1 servers, with control of different gameplay options to map rotations. Thanks to these customization options, you’ll be able to create games that suit the play style for you and your friends. Starting close after launch, you will be able to rent a server through the in-game store of Battlefield 1. In the past, servers were handled by third-party companies – now, EA is providing them directly. We think this will benefit you in several ways. First off, we will be able to secure the quality of the actual hardware. Since the servers come from the same provider, it will give everyone the same uniform experience. Furthermore, if you have questions or need help, you will be able to reach out to EA Support directly instead of third party support. On a rented server, players will be able to customize gameplay aspects like server name, map rotation, game mode, various game play settings, and more. We might restrict number of game modes available at launch and gradually enable them based on feedback and other circumstances, but you can expect that we’ll keep adding customization options and UI design throughout 2016. Expect to hear more about it as we approach the release of the Rent-a-Server program. We can’t wait to see you on the battlefield!

To summarize it layman’s terms: PC servers from Battlefield 1 will be limited when it comes to what PC gamers actually liked about the series. You cannot chose your preferred provider anymore and have less control over your own servers. Additionally, tools like ProCon and its plugins are not possible anymore. Creating your own rules and certain settings, e.g. servers with high ticket numbers, or to share ban lists between servers and even analyzing event statistics are now most likely a thing of the past.

This affects not only the clans and server admins, but all PC gamers. The PC servers now offer the same features as the console servers. Now it’s the same for everyone. Now that EA will also service their servers, PC gamers can learn from the experiences of the console players. EA’s customer service was often not able to help them in the past which lead to many dissatisfied customers.

The price structure of the servers will be very interesting. In the past the community hosted a large portion of the servers. Many clans and admins will have to decide based on the limitations if it is really still worth it. EA and DICE now have to prove how good and stable their hosting will be. It will be very interesting to see what the future will hold, especially when you take into consideration how the problems during the last months regarding the instability of the backend of Battlefield 4 affected everybody.

However, we want to apologize to our customers. We would have liked to be able to provide our full range of stable services and servers also for Battlefield 1. Unfortunately, this will not be possible due to the reasons listed above. We hope that all the gamers will still have fun playing the game online.

Source: battlefield.com