14 DAY TRIAL // Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello revealed during his keynote presentation at the Ad Age conference that the upcoming Battlefield 3 is designed to take down the next Call of Duty title from rival company Activision.
EA is still tending to its ego after Activision managed to take the first-person shooter crown from it and managed to make out of its Call of Duty franchise a blockbuster entertainment property that is more profitable than films, music or books.
The company is hoping to turn back the tide of the fight between it and Activision this year, with the release of Battlefield 3, coming from its DICE studio in Sweden.
According to John Riccitiello, via Industry Gamers, the new first person shooter is designed to take down Call of Duty, proclaiming the fight between EA and Activision as a "battle of the titans," liking it to other rivalries including Microsoft versus Google.
Riccitiello already made it clear that Battlefield 3 would be the game of the year, at least in terms of quality, and also revealed that the company would be spending a "couple hundred million dollars of marketing going against these two products going head-to-head."
Activision, with the last two Call of Duty titles, Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops, spent a huge amount of money in marketing, in order to make sure that everyone, gamer or non-gamer, would know that the title is going to be launched.
Judging by Riccitiello words, it seems that EA is ready to match Activision's marketing rush with a similar offensive.
Given the fact that according to recent reports, one week will separate the release of the two first-person shooters, with Battlefield 3 probably arriving on November 3, while the new Call of Duty will appear in its traditional second week of November, we'll be in for some true marketing and ad wars.