Battlefield Heroes boasts army of 3 million

It took one month for Battlefield Heroes to register 1 million players. Two months after that, Electronic Arts announced that the free-to-play PC shooter had made it to 2 million players. Today, three months after announcing the game's last milestone, EA confirmed that the userbase for Battlefield Heroes had reached the 3 million mark.

In a statement, Battlefield Heroes general manager Ben Cousins dropped a few usage stats on the game. Since launch, Cousins said players have collectively spent 1,300 years playing the game, with 300 million confirmed kills between them spread out over 150 million game rounds.

As it did with the 2 million milestone, EA is celebrating the event with new content for the game. The publisher today released Sunset Showdown, a new map centered on a hilltop church control point.

Battlefield Heroes' business model allows players to earn Valor Points through playing the game, which can be spent to earn temporary access to new weapons. Alternatively, players can spend real-world cash to purchase Battlefunds, which confer permanent use of the items.

While the free-to-play model obviously drew gamers to at least sample the game, recent price hikes on items purchased with Valor Points have drawn fire from the community. A thread on the game's official forums has reached more than 200 pages and 4,300 posts, some featuring signature images decrying EA or referring to the game as "Battlefund Heroes."