DICE Discusses Multiplayer Differences Between Console & PC Versions Of Battlefield 3

It's just not technically possible, with PC's packing much more potential horse-power than the PlayStation 3. As such, the console version of Battlefield 3 will be much more refined, limiting player-counts to just 24-players compared to the PC's 64-player cap.

“The biggest difference between the PC and console version of Battlefield 3 is that we have 64 players on the PC and 24 players maximum on console,” Bach told GameZone.

“The rest is more or less the same: we use the same engine, the same technology, the same animation system, the same lighting system. Our aim is to give the player the exact same experience and not try to dumb down the console version.

“If you want the same quality of game, I would say it’s really, really hard. We tried to get more players in [to the console version] but then you need to scale down all the graphics, scale down all the destructibility, and sometimes you need to scale down all the map sizes. Everything is a compromise on: where do you cut?”

Bach argued that just because some games have more players, it doesn't necessarily make them better experiences.

With less players on screen, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the console version of Battlefield 3 would also feature smaller maps. This is not necessarily the case, according to Bach.

“When we say they are smaller, it’s not that we have cut them in half,” he explained. “But we tried to compact them slightly to keep the action up. If you compare it to Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the maps weren’t really small on console. We actually had huge maps even for console. We have the same kind of angle on it right now. We want to create the same experience for PC as for consoles.”