Battlefield 3 (commonly abbreviated to BF3) is a first-person shooter video game developed by EA Digital Illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released in North America on October 25, 2011 and in Europe on October 28, 2011 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360[4] and EA Mobile confirmed a port for the iOS platform. It does not support versions of Windows prior to Windows Vista as the game only supportsDirectX 10 and 11.[5]

It is a direct sequel to 2005's Battlefield 2, and the eleventh installment in the Battlefield franchise. The game sold 5 million copies in its first week of release,[6] and was released to critical acclaim from most game reviewers. The PC download is exclusive to EA's Origin platform,[7] through which PC users also authenticate when connecting to the game.

In campaign mode, players take on the personas of various military roles; including a USMC reconnaissance officer, an F-18 systems officer, an M1A2 Abrams tank operator, and a SPETSNAZ operative. The campaign takes place at various locations, including Iran, and follows the story of Sergeant Blackburn and later, Dimitri Mayakovsky.