The biggest Battlefield in the Modern Warfare of gaming
This post was originally published on my previous domain, jessekohl.com, on October 15, 2011. It was recovered from the Wayback Machine. This may or may not have been edited slightly by AI.
This fall is going to be one of the most exciting launch seasons in the history of gaming. As games get even greater in graphics, realism and depth with every passing E3, the interactive entertainment space has become a battlefield like no other. We live in a time when games are competing with movies, and breaking impressive records.
There are a great number of games lined up for release over the next few months, but for many players, it comes down to Battlefield 3 (BF3, Electronic Arts) and Modern Warfare 3 (MW3, Activision). These two rivals are going head-to-head with new and improved releases this fall, and the money made by both companies will probably set impressive new records.
Historically, Modern Warfare and its related titles have outsold the Battlefield series, but many gamers are putting their money on BF3 to emerge dominant this year. Only sales will tell.
In general, the number of people looking for Battlefield 3 info is a couple hundred thousand higher than the monthly searches for Modern Warfare 3. Granted, this plain view doesn’t take into account many of the long tail searches. Also, Battlefield 3 search volumes likely saw a boost that can be attributed to the early release of a single multiplayer map in beta and all of the bugs that turned some frustrated players, like me, to the internet for help.
(The original post included a chart of Google searches for Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3. The Wayback Machine didn’t save a copy of it.)
Does this mean BF3 is edging ahead of MW3?
I’d say no.
A winner won’t be clear until actual sales start counting. But speculation is a fun kind of thing.