I've been having trouble playing Battlefield 3 recently: the game won't always launch through the Battlelog, and doesn't even appear to launch from Origin. A few times I've even launched Origin and the game just won't have the "Play" option, instead it'll just show me "Details". Other options like "Repair" or "Update game" aren't available either in these cases. When clicking on a server in the browser to join it, half the time the game refuses to launch, with an error message saying "Could not start, please verify that you have the latest version and can start the game from Origin." When trying to join a Back To Karkand server, the game doesn't acknowledge the fact that I do own it - I have the Limited Edition as well as the Premium - and another message appears basically telling me to buy it.Furthermore, when I try to repair the game or even update it, Origin crashes. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling both Origin and Battlefield 3, with all its DLCs, and the problem still persists... I've been playing Battlefield 3 on PC since 2017 and never had that before.Could anyone please help me? I don't know what else I could do

@grumpycat60found this, maybe you can try https://forums.battlefield.com/en-us/discussion/205834/2021-fix-for-battlefield-3-not-launching-or-joining-servers-due-to-content-not-being-installed#latest

Battlefield 3 won't launch | EA Forums

18 Replies

RP_Sniperx
Newcomer
26 days ago
I bought Battlefield 3 on Steam, when I click to enter the BF3 server, it keeps loading at the bottom of the browser, but a message appears saying "could not activate". Searching alone and with the help of EA support, I followed the procedure of deleting the license file in the game folder, but it still didn't work. It came to my attention through my own research that this error could be due to a bad synchronization of EA and Steam accounts, is this correct? Is there anything I can do? EA support told me to post my problem here.
omegaman61
Seasoned Newcomer
4 months ago
Yep the same here with BF3 & even with BF4.... 😒... Very bloody frustrating EA.... 😠.....
EA_Atic
DICE Team
3 years ago
This is on the older side of time, I'm closing this thread to stop it from being necroed.

If you have any issues with Battlefield 3 please make a new topic about your problems and what kind of steps you have tried to solve them.

/Atic
AbC5598a4856514
3 years ago
The only workaround I found working is the following:

1. Open Battlefield from Origin
2. Open Edge or Internet Explorer (NO CHROME, NO FIREFOX) and enter this URL: https://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf3/
3. Launch campaign or multiplayer 🙂
momizi06
5 years ago
I had same issue until a few minutes ago.
but now I can startup bf3. I tried to close Origin and restart it. after doing, I launched bf3 from Origin. and bf3 is open!
I think this issue is temporary error, so please try to reopen Origin and play bf3.
p.s. I'm a japanese and not good at English. so I think I made some grammatical mistakes.
rogerdowl
5 years ago
I also had the issue of BF3 not initiating. I found that my browser was restricting it. I adjusted my browser settings to allow cookies and cross-site trackers for the battelog page. This change allowed the game to start and run normally.
misaelalisson
5 years ago
@ragnarok013 Actually I solved the problem. I play it through Origin. The problem was solved after I repaired the game through Origin. It turns out it might have been a missing file or something like that.
ragnarok013
Hero+
5 years ago
@MisaelLimaa1 on which platform are you playing?
MisaelLimaa1
5 years ago
I'm having a problem playing the game too. It shows "initializing", and it even opens the game (Campaign Mode), but it doesn't go past the loading screen. It closes and says "there was a problem."
DNAZZTY619
Rising Novice
5 years ago
Is there any place in the forums that EA says they will make BF3-4 work again? I don't even see them on this thread.
What is the use of marketing a console on its ability to be backward compatible if the game makers don't support their older games?