A point of clarification for all of our Battlefield fans. We will unlock the contents of the Physical Warfare Pack to all Battlefield 3 players later this year – for free. Read on for more details on this and Back to Karkand.

So maybe this is stating the obvious, but all of us at DICE are here because of our passion for games and the passion to bring you the games we too love to play. I always knew our pre-order offers for Battlefield 3 would be open to misunderstandings. This post is an attempt by me to answer any questions you have.

I would like to start by clarifying that the Physical Warfare Pack is a time-based exclusive. If you do not pre-order Battlefield 3 at a retailer carrying the Physical Warfare Pack, don’t worry. We will unlock the contents of the Physical Warfare Pack for free to all Battlefield 3 players later this year.

The Physical Warfare Pack will be available as a pre-order bonus all over the globe. Right now, the UK is the only country where it has been announced, but stay tuned to get constant updates on where you can pick this up in your country. And remember, if you do not pre-order, you will still get access to this content at a later date, free of charge. If you do pre-order, you will get access to it from day one.

For Battlefield: Bad Company 2, many in the Battlefield community were very vocal about wanting additional, new maps to expand the multiplayer experience. With Battlefield 3, we want to make sure we can increase your library of maps quicker than we did for Battlefield: Bad Company 2. We also want to give you something special for pre-ordering, as pre-ordering is basically your way of saying you believe in DICE and Battlefield 3. When we announced that everybody who pre-orders Battlefield 3 would get an entire future expansion pack at no extra charge, I knew we had created a very generous pre-order offer.

Back to Karkand is a massive, themed expansion pack available a period of time after the base game, developed by a separate team here at DICE -- the same team that brought you Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam. If you played Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam, you have a pretty good idea about the scope and ambition of our expansion packs. This is so much more than just four remixed maps.

If you pre-order Battlefield 3, you will be able to play Back to Karkand at no extra charge as soon as it is released, but it is not day one DLC and it is not on the base game disc. We think it’s a sweet deal, and it’s available to everyone everywhere. If you do not pre-order Battlefield 3, you can still buy Back to Karkand separately and play it as soon as it is released, the very same date as anyone who pre-ordered. In other words, there is no segmentation of the community when we launch the base game.