User blog comment:TheAmazingBBP/BF3 Private Servers/@comment-3020230-20120305194019

I think DICE/EA are stalling on the addition of Private Matches due to server availability. Private matches in previous BF console games were still hosted on dedicated servers, and if you take one look at the BF3 server browser at peak times, you'll see very few empty servers, quite often there'll be none. BF3 is the most popular BF game to date, so more people are playing on BF servers more of the time, hence the load.

Until more servers are dedicated to BF3 matches on consoles, I can't see private matches happening. They'll either have to invest in more servers, switch off servers for older games like Bad Company 2 or let people hire servers for private use like on PC.

Most evenings I have at least 8 friends playing BF3, and they have their friends to invite as well. Playing with all of us together is often a pain. We often spend 10 minutes looking for empty servers to do knife & pistol only rounds. It's fun when randoms join and join in on the fun, but not when idiots (who seem to understand no known language and don't think twice when they see 20 people using only pistols) run around with frag rounds ruining everybody else's fun. Also our squads often get split up, but that's something DICE should be looking to fix in the next client and server updates.