14 DAY TRIAL // Activision's Call of Duty first person shooter series has become so profitable and popular largely because it didn't have any true competition, at least according to Electronic Arts' new Labels boss Frank Gibeau, who believes Battlefield 3 might finally be a worthy competitor for the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
EA's getting ready to deploy Battlefield 3 this fall and has, more than once, emphasized that it wants to take the shooter crown from Activision and its Call of Duty series.
After quite a lot of harsh statements, EA's Labels boss, Frank Gibeau, talked with CVG and confessed that he believes the new title will finally give Call of Duty the competition it's been missing all this time.
"We don't take things lightly. If we're going to go after a category, we intend to lead. We have a very big competitor there but they're going to get some competition this Christmas for the first time in a long time. We're all in. We're going for it. How you measure victory, I don't know. What I'm curious about is how the game is going to finish from a quality standpoint - I think it's going to be great."
He continued: "We're going to take share from them and I think we're going to grow the business significantly. We're going to give them competition for the first time that they haven't had."
Gibeau then emphasized just what are the advantages of Battlefield 3 over its competitors, including its all-new Frostbite 2 engine, not to mention the experience of the development team at DICE.
"We like to think that we've got a pretty powerful game offer with the technology base that is brand new, next generation and should set new standards for what happens in FPS," he said. "We're excited about and we're really proud of the Battlefield 3 game. It's coming together very well and the quality and technology is something that you can just see on screen. The DICE guys have the pedigree of building some spectacular games."
"This Christmas we're definitely going to take market share in the FPS category from those guys," he concluded. "Customers like competition, they like these kind of heavyweight fights so we're going for it."
Battlefield 3 is out on October 25, while Modern Warfare 3 appears on November 8.