As has become common place with many major multiplatorm EA titles, the PS3 version of Battlefield 3 was supposed to come with a free game for those who picked up the limited edition. The game in this case being Battlefield 1943. Sadly, as PS3 owners opened up their pre-orders yesterday they probably noticed one thing: Battlefield 1943 was nowhere to be found.

In the past, EA titles with similar promotions have all featured the content on disc - players would simply need to install the content from the blu-ray in order to play it. However, with Battlefield 1943, there was no option to install it as an extra. There was not even an insert inside the case with a download code, so what gives? Sony and EA touted this as an incentive to pick up the PS3 version of Battlefield 3, (which is pretty good, we might add), so why the disappearance?

It turns out that the promise of Battlefield 1943 was instead replaced with the previously announced PS3 exclusivity of Battlefield 3’s DLC. All DLC for Battlefield 3 will release one week earlier on the PS3, which is similar to Microsoft’s Call of Duty DLC exclusivity in which all DLC releases on the Xbox 360 first.

Today’s tweet from the official Battlefield twitter reaffirms what we heard a few days ago about the PS3 limited edition of Battlefield 3.

What’s most upsetting about this situation is the fact that neither EA or DICE publicly announced this change before the release of Battlefield 3. Granted, Battlefield 1943 is an older title and chances are, most Battlefield fans already own it, but for those who pre-ordered in hopes that they would get a free game this is certainly disappointing.

“In lieu of 1943 being available on disk for PS3 customers, EA has made all BF3 expansions available early to PS3 customers.”

EA should have made it abundantly clear beforehand that Battlefield 1943 would no longer be shipping with Battlefield 3 instead of hiding it as a false advertisement. It’s not as if this was a last minute decision to not include it and it was promised to be part of the package at E3. We were there.

I purchased the limited edition of the Medal of Honor reboot to receive the free copy of Medal of Honor: Frontlines. Seeing as how that was my main incentive, I would have been very upset at EA had they decided to remove it without warning. In the case of Battlefield 3, there are definitely people out there who pre-ordered to take advantage of the inclusion of Battlefield 1943 and it’s just disgusting to see that EA would not mention that one of the incentives was stripped without warning since it does impact the buying decision and the value of the package.

[Update: A class action lawsuit was filed against EA over the Battlefield 1943 omission for misleading consumers.]

[Update 2: EA has given in and is offering Battlefield 1943 to PS3 buyers of Battlefield 3.]

Battlefield 3 is available now for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. Battlefield 1943 is available now on the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC as a digital download.

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Source: EA