Electronic Arts and DICE have announced that Battlefield Heroes has reached the three million player mark; and to celebrate the success of their free-to-play title, they have released a new map called Sunset Showdown.

While EA and DICE call it a free-to-play title, many refer to it as the first in the new breed of micro purchase transaction titles that many believe will dominate in the years to come. While micro transaction purchases have not been welcomed by all, it does seem that momentum is growing for their use in the gaming space.

According to EA and DICE, the vast majority of the people that play Battlefield Heroes are playing for free, but many of them are still making small micro transaction/purchases in the store to upgrade or customize their character. EA and DICE claim that over 50,000 new players per week are enlisting to play Battlefield Heroes. Since the game has been released, players have racked up 1,300 years of game time and over 300 million kills in over 150 million five-minute match rounds.

As far as the game being successful, despite what the EA and DICE have said publicly about the success of the title, our sources claim that the jury is still out somewhat on the viability of free-to-play/micro transaction model. The numbers of players that EA and DICE are attracting are good, but without continued micro transactions to support the game it will be hard to justify the ongoing support of the title. While the entire Battlefield Heroes project was presented as an experiment from the start, it does appear that it is blazing a trail for future titles of this type.