EA CEO: Battlefield 3 is "designed to take Call of Duty down"

Call of Duty Moder Warfare 2

EA is already preparing for the showdown between Battlefield 3 and the Call of Duty game that hasn't even been announced yet. CEO John Riccitiello predicts that EA and Activision will easily spend more than $100 million each on marketing when both games are released later this year, and admits that Battlefield 3 is targeted at taking the shooter top spot from the Call of Duty series.

Speaking at the Ad Age conference, covered by Gamasutra , Riccitiello said that we can expect EA and Activision "a couple hundred million dollars [worth of] marketing against these two products."

Riccitiello observes that the game industry has an audience of 1.5 billion players worldwide, and predicts that this could grow to 3 billion people in the next three or four years, dwarfing television audiences, and opening up more opportunities for advertising companies to run huge marketing campaigns.

The ads won't just extend to billboards and TV spots. EA already run advertising in multiplayer lobbies. Barack Obama ran ads in EA games ahead of the presidential election, and Riccitiello says we can expect more of the same as Battlefield 3 gets ready to take on Call of Duty in the coming months. "Today's consumer is very much expecting advertising," he says "we didn't have that understanding a few years ago."

One thing's for sure. As we get closer to Battlefielsd' release in November, it'll be hard to get away from the $100 million marketing campaigns EA and Activision will be running. For more on Battlefield 3, check out the latest Battlefield 3 trailer .

Tom Senior

Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.

Latest in Games
Starfield: Shattered Space
By the time Bethesda was on Starfield, you'd 'basically get in trouble' for breaking schedule, says former dev: 'A lot of the great stuff within Skyrim came from having the freedom to do what you want'
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Ogryn
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide adds a psychic horde murderzone mode and makes Ogryns even smashier
gta 6 trailer
Publishers 'don't want to be anywhere near' Grand Theft Auto 6 when it launches: 'It's proving to be very stressful'
A female Zoi making two hearts with her fingers.
Following 24 hours of Denuvo-based backlash, Inzoi is taking a surprising step and removing it entirely: 'We want to sincerely apologise for not aligning more closely with player expectations'
Sphene applauds in Final Fantasy 14's patch 7.2 story.
I'm not yelling 'we're so back!' yet, but Final Fantasy 14's patch 7.2 story could be the first sign the MMO is returning to what made it so critically-acclaimed
An image of a Helldiver from Helldivers 2 shooting at a red dragon from Dungeons & Dragons.
'Ok, so dragon builds are a thing now': galaxy-brained Helldivers 2 player incinerates a bile titan with a hover pack and a flamethrower
Latest in News
Starfield: Shattered Space
By the time Bethesda was on Starfield, you'd 'basically get in trouble' for breaking schedule, says former dev: 'A lot of the great stuff within Skyrim came from having the freedom to do what you want'
Monster Hunter Wilds' stockpile master studying a manifest
As layoffs and studio closures continue to deathroll the western AAA industry, analyst points out 5 of 8 major Japanese companies hit all-time share prices this year
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Ogryn
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide adds a psychic horde murderzone mode and makes Ogryns even smashier
A woman wearing a VR headset with dramatic, colourful lighting across the background
'World’s smallest LEDs' could lead to accurately lit screens with 127,000 pixels per inch and much more immersive VR
The NES themed 8BitDo Retro mechanical gaming keyboard on a blue background
I love the 8BitDo Retro C64 keyboard but I'd pick its cheaper NES-themed model near its lowest price ever during Amazon's Big Spring Sale
gta 6 trailer
Publishers 'don't want to be anywhere near' Grand Theft Auto 6 when it launches: 'It's proving to be very stressful'