The Battlefield 3 console servers are scheduled to go down this evening. The temporary shutdown is due to server migration according to the Battlelog Blog. The shutdown will start at 10 P.M. PST (Pacific Standard Time) tonight and will last an estimated eight hours.
“Our Battlefield 3 console server migration will start at this time,” developer DICE wrote in the blog post. “Online gameplay will not be available on consoles during this operation. We will message once servers are starting to spin back up.”
The post also included specific information for anyone using the server rental service in the “South U.S. region”:
“For the large majority of players renting a Battlefield 3 server, our server migration is a completely transparent operation except for the planned maintenance. If you are currently renting a console server in the ‘South U.S.’ region, the following applies:
- Your current lease period will run its full course with no change whatsoever.
- After the server migration you will not be able to extend your current lease or start a new lease in the ‘South U.S.’ region – we recommend that you use the ‘East U.S.’ or ‘West U.S.’ region instead.”
From that it seems the premium server rental service has not been as lucrative as expected and the initiative is being consolidated a bit.