Battlefield 3 Vs. Modern Warfare 3: Infinity Ward Wishes Success On Both Games

A lot of Electronic Arts' hype leading up to the release of Battlefield 3 positioned the shooter in an over-amped firefight with Modern Warfare 3. For example, EA head John Riccitiello flat-out said BF3 is "a better game," and back in August, EA spokesperson Jeff Brown said, "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." Ouch! 

In response, Activision, to my knowledge, never really hit back, in fact, Activision's Associate PR Manager Charlie Fortescue recently said, "I’m looking forward to playing Battlefield 3, but I’m looking forward to playing Modern Warfare 3."

Neither Modern Warfare 3's developers, DICE, nor Battlefield's really took part in the war of words, but now that MW3 is out, Activision is not doing a rhetorical tea-bagging victory dance due to record-breaking pre-sales and positive reviews. Infinity Ward's response is restrained and positive.

After calling the imbroglio "silly publisher talk," Infinity Ward executive producer Mark Rubin said, "When both games succeed it's better for the industry as a whole. It's not just us -- we want the gaming industry to succeed because the better the gaming industry does the better we all do. We root for everybody."

This is a classy response; I hope you're taking notes for the next time you beat someone at something.

As anyone who seriously followed the industry knows, there really was never much of a battle between BF 3 and MW 3 in the first place. Based on the history of the franchise, name recognition and the fierce loyalty of the player base, MW 3 was a lock from the start --for this generation, at least, and the talk of a showdown between the two titles was, ultimately, like a professional wrestling pre-interview: A lot of hot air and an outcome that was pre-determined.

That having been said, Battlefield 3 is an absolutely amazing game, and is definitely a technological and artistic leap ahead for the whole genre. Anyone who's honest about games, and has played both, already knows that both games are top-tiere; there are pluses and minuses to each; and when Battlefield 4 and Modern Warfare 4 are released, we'll all benefit with better games. To quote an old saying: When the water level rises, all the boats go up.

Source: Eurogamer

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