The video game franchises Call of Duty and Battlefield are regularly cited as the two best-known series in the war-based first person shooter genre. For the first time, new titles in each franchise have been released at around the same time – Battlefield 3 was released about a week ago, while Modern Warfare 3 debuts today – and competition between the two is expected to be fierce.
According to the Wall Street Journal, that competition has in part fueled the marketing campaigns for each new game. While Modern Warfare 3 is relying on the Hollywood star power of actors Sam Worthington and Jonah Hill in its ads, Battlefield 3 included the pun “Above and Beyond the Call” in a recent TV spot. Frank Gibeau, president of Battlefield distributor EA’s Labels division, acknowledged the tongue-in-cheek reference.
“We’re having some fun,” Gibeau told the news source. “We can’t completely isolate ourselves from the fact that we’re shipping in the same window as Call of Duty.”
The distributors behind both franchises, EA for Battlefield and Activision for Call of Duty, are both relying heavily on their respective series’ new titles to shore up revenue during the holiday season.
An infographic provided by VentureBeat confirms that while Battlefield 3 has sold 5 million copies in its first week of sale, Modern Warfare 3 is expected to sell over 20 million in the coming weeks.
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