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

Battlefield 3 already has 1.25 million pre-orders, but EA doesn't "expect to surpass" the Call of Duty franchise this year.

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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."

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    September 7, 2011 1:30 PM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, EA: Battlefield 3 has 1.25 million pre-orders, won't beat Call of Duty.

    Battlefield 3 already has 1.25 million pre-orders, but EA doesn't "expect to surpass" the Call of Duty franchise this year.

    • reply
      September 7, 2011 1:32 PM

      I can see MW3 getting a lot of upfront sales and then BF3 having a longer "shelf-life," as bored FPS gamers look for another game to play after reaching their third prestige.

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        September 7, 2011 2:25 PM

        I can't really see that happening based on how long MW2 and BLOPS were in the top 10 selling games after release.

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          September 7, 2011 2:49 PM

          [deleted]

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            September 7, 2011 2:50 PM

            The people who buy BLOPS are not the one's on Steam, because Steam isn't on the 360

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              September 7, 2011 3:04 PM

              Even though BLOPS PC likely sold a fraction of what it did the consoles, it probably still outsold BC2 on PC (which sold over 2 million on PC). The estimates were up to 18 million (combined, worldwide) for Black Ops last I checked.

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            September 7, 2011 3:58 PM

            its ahead of the black ops single player entry, black ops MP peaked at roughly triple bc2 and mw2 was over 4x the amount of players at peak

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              September 7, 2011 3:59 PM

              though I'm sure the BC2 number is low due to it not being a steamworks game, but I doubt its beating either of those titles

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        September 7, 2011 3:55 PM

        considering both MW2 and black ops are routinely on top of bc2 on the steam player chart, I think youre wrong.

        BF3 looks like a prettier BC2 with jets, so maybe people will get bored with getting spawn raped all the time and look for something else to play?

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      September 7, 2011 1:34 PM

      This was obvious, the only thing COD has going for it anymore is the name, step away nothing new or changing here.

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        September 7, 2011 1:36 PM

        I totally agree and I can see DICE capitolizing on that.

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      September 7, 2011 1:35 PM

      Because I bet most of their playerbase for THIS game is on the PC and are not including the numbers for the PC.

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      September 7, 2011 1:37 PM

      All the Origin bullshit wouldn't have helped those numbers.

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        September 7, 2011 2:09 PM

        Yeah, it probably would've been 1.251 million pre-orders if you account for the subset of people buying it on PC, the subset of those people who only buy things on steam, and the subset of those people that actually pre-order games.

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          September 7, 2011 8:23 PM

          bababa-bullllllshit. 250,000-500,000 more pre-orders easily.

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      September 7, 2011 1:37 PM

      guh, and this is why we can't have nice things.

      /stupid fratboys

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        September 7, 2011 1:59 PM

        Fucking HAAAAAAtttte this fratboy association to COD. How did it start? Xbox live shit? I've always liked COD far more than any BF game, and every fucking year it's some higher nerd lord lobbing fratboy insults at the COD fanbase.

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      September 7, 2011 1:49 PM

      I don't get why people felt letdown because it won't beat Call of Duty. 1.25 million preorders is an amazing number. Most games would kill to sell that many in months. Also there is still over a month before it comes out.

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      September 7, 2011 2:07 PM

      Hey, I pre-ordered this game on that piece of shit Origin and it's not showing on my library as a pre-order or something, like Steam... is this happening for you guys too?

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        September 7, 2011 2:12 PM

        Shows on mine just says unreleased instead of ready to download.

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          September 7, 2011 3:16 PM

          Thanks, it's showing now, almost two hours after buying it. What a shitty service.

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      September 7, 2011 2:32 PM

      Preorder question

      I've pre-ordered both, BF3 and Skyrim from Amazon.com. I've noticed they haven't taken the money yet and was wondering if there were better pre-ordering options out there. (Price, DLC, whatever)

      I've never pre-ordered anything before.

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        September 7, 2011 2:49 PM

        Skyrim, no. From looking a bunch last week (on the CE edition), it seems everyone has exactly the same thing, except steam, where you pay the same price but don't get a cool map.

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        September 8, 2011 8:25 AM

        best preorder for your money is either

        Best Buy (8 multiplayer skins)
        Game Stop (Weapons Pack)

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      September 7, 2011 2:55 PM

      Well, I've noticed at gamestops in the mall that their are more advertising for MW3 then battlefield 3. Since majority of people are brainwashed by advertising I can see why Call of Duty sold a shit load. Their advertising is pretty strong in retail stores verse the battlefield series.

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      September 7, 2011 3:07 PM

      Will Battlefield 3 have single player? I don't always want to commit to a multiplayer match - sometimes I just want to jump in and out, guilt-free.

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        September 7, 2011 3:22 PM

        Yes it will have single player.

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        September 7, 2011 3:26 PM

        SP and some form of Coop.

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      September 7, 2011 3:07 PM

      I can't speak for everyone else, but I never preorder games, I always wait to see what sort of finish product hits the shelves before I ever lay my money down. If I had to guess I would say that's the way it works for most PC gamers.

      I would be interested in a cross-correlated study between preordering hype vs intelligence levels and intelligence levels for PC and console players...

      Meaning I think less intelligent people preorder and there are a lot more of them on consoles. That said, if BF3 sucks then the people that didn't preorder it wont buy it no matter what.

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        September 7, 2011 3:52 PM

        I pre-order because I can get the game for $44 instead of $60 and it guarantees me the DLC map pack which I wont have to pay for in the future. Considering it might be a $15 map pack I just saved $31 in the long run versus buying the game after reviews come out. However I have been following the games progress and did play in the alpha so I have a good idea what to expect.

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          September 7, 2011 4:31 PM

          I wait until later to buy my games because I'd rather pay skip a game I won't play then pay $31 dollars for one.

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          September 7, 2011 8:57 PM

          where did you get it for $44?

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      September 7, 2011 3:54 PM

      BF3 just needs to have better/easier anti-air so Pro pilots don't rape entire servers of new players.

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      September 8, 2011 8:26 AM

      My girl and I will not be buying COD this time around.... Black Ops sucked and we want a more refined game.. so we are dropping the cash on BF3 this year !!!

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      September 10, 2011 6:48 AM

      Wait wait wait.... EA removes their games from Steam, and then wonders why they are not selling as much? Really?!

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      September 12, 2011 9:34 AM

      i'd enjoy a less realistic FPS with simple graphics over both of these games that seemingly purely exist to show who has the longest dick in the industry.

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