EA Has confirmed that Battlefield 3 has reached pre-order numbers of 1.5 million, increasing a quarter of a million in two weeks. Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia thinks the map pack was a good incentive for players to pick up the game early
“Management remains optimistic that the title has potential to exceed sales of its predecessor (Battlefield Bad Company 2), which has sold through 9.5 million units life-to-date. Critical ratings for BF3 should be at least 80,” added. Bhatia. “The combined marketing dollars for BF3 and Call of Duty: MW 3 could reach $100 million this year. The two week head start for BF3 versus CoD will facilitate a big launch for BF3. Once CoD launches, there would be a natural slowdown in sales of BF3. Then, at holiday, momentum for BF3 should rebuild. BF3 is expected to have a long tail as more digital content is introduced over time. At peak, BF3 had more than 100 developers. Note that BF3 will include a map pack if the game is pre-ordered. This $15 to $20 value should be a big incentive for customers to pre-order BF3. The mix of BF3 should be 60 percent US and 40 percent international.”
Source: IndustryGamers
