EA: Battlefield 3 has 1.25 million pre-orders, won't beat Call of Duty

Gamers are a fickle bunch, spending their days trolling comments sections and forums in their continued efforts to win the console war. But, there's another equally-passionate battle brewing: the battle between Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3.

Electronic Arts' Chief Financial Officer Eric Brown doesn't subscribe to the mudslinging. Speaking to investors, he predicts that Battlefield 3 will do well, but won't be able to achieve the numbers Activision's competing franchise has produced. "Just to be clear, the [Call of Duty] franchise did about 23 million units worldwide. We don't expect to surpass them with this year's Battlefield 3, just to be very clear," he said.

Although Brown concedes that Battlefield 3 won't be able to best Call of Duty's numbers, the game is besting EA's more modest expectations. "We expect to grow unit sales of Battlefield 3 over its predecessor title, Battlefield: Bad Company 2," Brown told investors. The title is already on track, with 1.25 million pre-orders already secured.

While many gamers will be fixated on seeing the performance of these two games at retail and on Metacritic, Brown says that both games can, and will, succeed on the market. In fact, he believes that many gamers will buy both Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 this holiday season. "I think there's going to be a lot of great choice for consumers. I think we're going to see a lot of dual purchases as well. FPS fans, I think, are likely to purchase and play both titles to debate the merits, the pros and cons of one versus the other."