Battlefield 5 may not allow players to rent their own servers
After months of uncertainty, DICE has finally shared an update about the Rent a Server Program for Battlefield 5.
Since before Battlefield 5's release, the developer has been especially vague about whether or not players can expect the return of Rent a Server Program (RSP) at or around launch.
Being able to rent your own server has been a staple feature in Battlefield games, and it's a key way to building communities around the game. Having access to player-run servers also extends a game's life beyond the end of its official support. This is why, for example, you can easily still find active Battlefield 4, 3, and even Bad Company 2 servers to this day.
But with Battlefield 5, DICE never gave a satisfactory answer to these demands one way or another. Until this week, when global community manager Dan Mitre decided to offer a transparent - albeit disappointing - response about the fate of RSP.
"I'm going to keep it simple. You haven't seen an update in our direction with RSP because we haven't made a full decision internally whether or not we can deliver it," Mitre wrote on Reddit.
"RSP needs to meet standards and your expectations with the tools we provide - that takes development resources. It also needs to make economical development sense - we can't introduce a feature that ends up costing more to keep maintained than it returns (I know that statement will open up more debate, and I encourage that, but this is the reality of the situation).
"In other words, we don't want to impact development resources of main game quality of life commitment and upcoming content by routing team bandwidth to RSP development. There's also financial implications here that go well beyond my remit."
The community manager then reiterated that RSP is not completely off the table, but a final decision has yet to be made. When that happens, Mitre assured players it'll be communicated officially.
"Our teams need to weigh this carefully and either commit fully to the service or not provide it at all," he added.
The lack of player-run servers isn't a massive issue right now, especially with the current state of Battlefield 5, but not having the option will undoubtedly cut the life of the game short. Until we know for certain, we'll just have to stick with official servers and hope for the best.