Battlefield 3 exec ‘feels sympathy’ for Activision, sees the positive in PSN hack

DICE’s Patrick Bach, the executive producer on Battlefield 3, has shared a few words on the massive leak that befell its arch nemesis Modern Warfare 3 earlier in the year. In short, he’s glad it wasn’t him.

“There must have been some very angry people over at Activision when it happened,” Bach muses, “and I would be very upset if it happened to us.”

The leak, which took place in mid-May, revealed several bits of info from the game before Activision had even formally announced the title, including details on locations, number of missions, characters, multiplayer and co-op modes etc. A lot of surprises were laid bare.

“We feel sympathy for them,” Bach adds.

The two are set to go head to head later this year; Battlefield 3 releases in October, Modern Warfare 3 a few weeks later in November.

As for the year’s biggest news, the $170 million breach of Sony’s PlayStation Network service, Bach chooses to focus on the positive and sees players eventually benefiting from the drama.

“I think it’s good that the problem is getting sorted now, so that similar things won’t happen again. It’s hurting us here and now, but I think in the long-run it won’t matter, and it’ll actually create a better online service for PS3 owners.”

The quotes come from the latest PSM3, the same issue that included a few details on BF3‘s dedicated co-op mode. More on that here.