EA is setting its sights square on the Call of Duty money pile with Battlefield 3.
There’s no question right now that EA wants to take its biggest rival’s (Activision) biggest property (Call of Duty) down from the top spot, and DICE’s Battlefield 3 is its primary weapon to do just that. Hell, that’d be obvious even if EA CEO John Riccitiello hadn’t said it outright.
To make sure that Battlefield 3 stands a chance against Call of Duty: The Next One, EA will be putting quite a bit of money behind it. In a conference call with investors today, EA said that it was planning for the biggest launch in its company history. The publishing giant will be making an “enormous commitment of resources” to promote DICE’s shooter against the competition.
So far, interest in the title is up, which may be due to the game looking damn good. Preorders for Battlefield 3 are showing a massive 700% increase over preorders for last year’s Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which should be heartening to investors worried their money is being misspent – especially with all the money being funneled to EA’s other massive project, The Old Republic.
I’m not sure I’m on board with the idea of tailoring a product specifically to beat another game. DICE is a very talented developer, there’s no denying that, but telling them to “go make a COD-killer” seems less clever than just trusting them to make the best damn Battlefield they can make. Still, however it turns out, EA is putting a lot of money behind the game so for its sake I hope it does well at market.
Is Battlefield 3 on your wish list?
(Via G4TV)
