Anybody who’s been paying attention to the development of Battlefield 3 knows that there are more than a few reasons to bet on a major success come October. Publisher Electronic Arts has made their support of the game over its competitors more than vocal, and now the company’s CFO has revealed that pre-orders for Battlefield 3 are not only reflecting that confidence, but setting the stage for a fight the publisher feels they can win.

It’s not easy to step into the ring with a franchise as popular as Call of Duty, but DICE has made that their goal since the very beginning. Even so, the difference between the two series run far deeper than mere gameplay, as the developers have stated how they would consider the yearly cycle CoD currently enjoys a serious risk of ‘diluting’ a franchise.

It’s not hard to see the substantially different features the games will be utilizing, and the massive multiplayer battles that Battlefield 3 will make possible is worth the price of admission alone. Clearly the minds behind the upcoming military shooter feel that something’s missing from the current selection of shooters, and it would appear that there are plenty of fans who agree.

At this week’s Citi 2011 Tech Conference, Electronic Arts CFO Eric Brown revealed that pre-orders are already ahead of those seen with Bad Company 2. Gamasutra was on hand to catch the executive’s comments, so we’ll let Brown explain just how the numbers speak for themselves:

There are more than few pre-order perks for those who are ready to commit to picking up a copy of Battlefield 3, but we’re going to presume that’s not the only reason things are going so well for EA. While some might say that the current trend is a sign that no further publicity is needed, brown went on to emphasize just how much lies in store:

“To date we have about 1.25 million pre-orders on Battlefield 3, so it’s still well ahead of its predecessor title, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, in regards to pre-orders in the same number of weeks till launch. So it’s doing very well”

The advance window will no doubt be to EA’s advantage, but it may not need that hand-up as much as Medal of Honor did last year.The game has received a great showing at virtually every convention it’s been put on display, and DICE is saying all the right things to convince PC gamers that they’re the best show in town come this holiday season.

“We have a pretty extensive campaign planned for Battlefield 3,” he said. “We have the advantage of a two-and-a-half week early launch window versus our competitor [Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3], and we intend to use that.”

Whether the toe-to-toe comparison between Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 amounts to little more than personal preference remains to be seen, but the number of pre-orders show that DICE will make good on its promise to put an end to Activision’s free ride.

Have you already pre-ordered your copy? Or are you waiting to see what retailer-specific bonuses are right for you?

Battlefield 3 will be released for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on October 25, 2011.

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Source: Gamasutra