A fresh devblog from ArmA 3 developers Bohemia Interactive has revealed that the team are planning to release the realistic military shooter’s campaign in 3 free episodes after the game’s initial launch in September. Supplied as free DLC, the first episode, Survive, will be made available within one month, while the following episodes, Adapt and Win, are slated for release in the months thereafter.

The choice was apparently not an easy one states the most recent devblog post, revealing that the development team did experience difficulties with its parallel development. While the team was developing the game, players were able to access both alpha and beta code causing portions of the team to be pulled off to support the testing phases. Luckily though the alpha and beta phases cam back with positive progress, allowing Bohemia to work on perfecting the campaign. Joris-Jan van ‘t Land, Project Lead on Arma 3, elaborates:

“This was not a decision we made lightly. As game creators, we love developing and playing through campaigns so, to those awaiting ours, we say: sorry for the delay. After talking a lot about a focus on quality over the last year, it simply did not feel right to compromise now. Rather than pushing back the entire game, we launch this year with an awesome package – a splendid kick off for the Arma 3 experience.”

While the campaign DLC won't be there on release, Bohemia has revealed that the game will be debuting with "the large island terrains of Altis (270 km²) and Stratis (20 km²), 12 single-player showcase missions, 3 faction showcases, 9 multiplayer scenarios, a set of 10 firing drill challenges, over 20 vehicles, more than 40 weapons, 5 factions, the powerful scenario editor and modding support."

To further explain the motivations behind the decision, Bohemia Interactive has published a new post in their developer’s blog, which also reveals more on each of the 3 free DLC packs and what to expect from the team post-release.

In related ArmA 3 news, Bohemia has released a community guide on "how not to kill your teammates while flying a helicopter", a perfect example of just who you should trust when flying over your rendezvous point. Check it out below.