EA has confirmed Battlefield 1’s rent-a-server won’t be available at launch, and the company explained it’s because they are providing the servers themselves instead of leaving it to third-parties. This allows EA to “secure the quality of the actual hardware”, but it takes some time. They said the service will be available “close” after launch.

“Close” is a vague term, but rent-a-server is a feature you want available as soon as possible when the hype for the game’s online capabilities is at its highest, so if EA is smart, they won’t take too long to make it available. Battlefield 1 releases October 21, so the service should be available by early November.

While you’re waiting for the game to come out, you can check out the daily streams EA is doing on Twitch.