On Friday, an announcement was made on the official Battlefield 1 website concerning a new "Rent-a-Server" program that will be offered by EA. Traditionally, players who rented servers and needed assistance or support regarding them have had to go through third-party support services; EA will be offering server rentals directly through the Battlefield 1 in-game store, and support for those servers will be offered by EA Support.
The announcement from EA says that this will have several benefits for players, namely that the quality of the hardware and the experiences of renting servers will be consistent as it comes from the same source.
EA says that players who rent servers will be able to customize the server name, map rotation, game mode, and other additional features. They also add that the number of game modes available to players may be restricted at launch.
Battlefield 1 is set to launch later this month on October 21, 2016, for PC via Origin, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. EA does not give an exact date for when the "Rent-a-Server" program will go into effect, just that it will be "close after launch", nor do they give an estimate for server rental fees.
Quick Take
I think this is a very smart move on EA's part, but I am baffled at the decision to not allow players full access to game modes at the launch of the "Rent-a-Server" program. Seems to me that having full access to game modes would result in more usable feedback, whereas the feedback they will most likely receive now will mostly consist of confused patrons trying to use unavailable modes.What are your thoughts on this new "Rent-a-Server" program? Is this something you think you would make use of? Let us know in the comment section below! For more Battlefield 1 coverage, be sure to check out our EA Play Impressions of the title.
