Battlefield 3 VS Modern Warfare 3 - Outcome

Before the release of Modern Warfare and Battlefield 3, it was predicted that Battlefield 3 will totally crush Call of Duty - Modern Warfare 3. But did it totally crush Modern Warfare 3?

Battlefield 3

VS

Modern Warfare 3

After the release of Battlefield 3, it did not break any world record however it broke personal records. On the first week, it sold five million copies. The largest amount of games sold from EA in a week. On February 2012, Battlefield 3 sold over ten million copies.

Modern Warfare 3 made $400 million in the first 24 hours just like Modern Warfare 2 which broke the world record. Modern Warfare 3 also made $1 Bllion in 16 days beating Avatar who done it in 17 days.

Modern Warfare 3 won best shooter in the Spike TV awards. This caused outrage and a huge mix of reaction as to why Battlefield 3 never won the nomination. Worse, Battlefield 3 did not win a single award from Spike TV. So after so much hard work done on Battlefield 3 to beat Modern Warfare 3, Spike TV still chooses Modern Warfare 3 as best shooter.

Battlefield 3 later won best shooter in the Gamespy awards. It also won the 2012 BAFTA game awards in audio, multiplayer and Game award of 2011.

Why did the prediction go backwards? Prior to Battlefield 3's release, the game released a beta which had alot of glitches and problems which was like Call of Duty's history of glitches and hackers. Although it had glitches and problems, DICE still called it "mission accomplished".

Both games had a mix of reviews. Battlefield 3 had 2 seperate reviews = PC and Consoles. IGN gave them both 9.0/10. IGN also awarded Modern Warfare 3 - 9.0/10. Gamespot gave both Battlefield 3 (PC and Consoles) and Modern Warfare 3 - 8.5/10.

Playstation Magazine Australia gave Battlefield 3 - 8/10 and Modern Warfare 3 - 9/10. PMA described Battlefield 3 not being able to go up to standard while Modern Warfare 3 took Battlefield 3's threat very seriously. While Battlefield 3 got positive reviews especially with the Frostbite 2 engine "that will make take pride over your graphics card investment", the single player campaign was considered negative along with glitches on the Frostbite 2 engine like dead soldiers clinging through walls or dead soldiers still in a shooting position after being killed.

Battlefield 3's single player campaign had negative reviews bacause it was considered too serious unlike the Bad Company series and IGN described it as years of military fiction (eg- Russians, plots against New York, etc) and it feels like you have play it before. Battlefield 3 plot has a serious realistic storyline that was trying to compete against Modern Warfare 3's campaign. IGN described the multiplayer as having alot of freedom of choice including destructable environments but the campaign has undestructable environments and no freedom like being confined to the back of a fighter jet only being able to shoot, not fly.

As for awards, Battlefield 3 won over 60 awards. In E3, it won best action game and best multiplayer. It got 80 best game nominations and won 47 of them. It also won best game in Gamescom and in the Tokyo Game Show.

Both games had caused controversy. Battlefield 3 was criticised by PETA by a scene involving Blackburn killing a rat. It also caused controversy about depicting an invasion of Iran and highly accurately depicting Iranian places like the Grand Bazaar. This caused the game to be banned in Iran with Iranians demanding an apology. Iran is no stranger to video games. An Iranian gamer agreed with this ban as he explained that he once played a video game about the invasion of Iraq and five years after he played that game, Iraq was invaded. Modern Warfare 3 caused controversy after depicting the Davis family on vacation and later being killed by a terrorist truck explosion containing chemical weapons.

IGN also did a viewer's choice between Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 on three categories - campaign, multiplayer and graphics. Battlefield 3 had the most votes on all three categories which made EA celebrate by using this victory as a promotion.

Battlefield 3's new DLC coming June 2012 is completely based on close quarters which could be another attempt to take down Modern Warfare 3. EA CEO John Riccitiello was hoping that gamers would buy both games and eventually choose Battlefield 3 as the clear winner.

Overall, Battlefield 3 only took a slice of Modern Warfare 3's sales which was almost correctly predicted by EA corporate communications chief Jeff Brown saying to Activision CEO Eric Hirshburg:

"Welcome to the big leagues Eric -- I know you're new in the job but someone should have told you this is an competitive industry. You've got every reason to be nervous. Last year Activision had a 90 % share in the shooter category. This year, Battlefield 3 is going to take you down to 60 or 70. At that rate, you’ll be out of the category in 2-3 years. If you don't believe me, go to the store and try to buy a copy of Guitar Hero or Tony Hawk."

Although Battlefield 3 did not reach it's expected potential, it is only just the beginning like D-Day. By looking at their mistakes, problems and trying new out new ideas in the future, Battlefield 4 in a few years time may, if not, will become the most popular and amazing in the video game market with other video games having match against it.

It has been suggested that Respawn Entertainment's upcoming game will kill Call of Duty as over fourty of it's employees are former senior employees of Infinity Ward and veterans of Modern Warfare 1 & 2.