EA’s development team DICE has made it perfectly clear that they are going after the Call of Duty franchise with all they’ve got, and their latest promotional tagline for Battlefield 3 takes it one step further.
This witty little phrase attached to Battlefield 3’s beta test PR reads: “Go Above and Beyond the Call”, clearly implying that Battlefield 3 will go “above and beyond” Activision’s franchise. Let’s also not forget what EA’s outspoken Labels president Frank Gibeau said several weeks ago, basically throwing down to gauntlet to Activision:
This Christmas we’re definitely going to take market share in the FPS category from those guys. Customers like competition, they like these kind of heavyweight fights so we’re going for it.
You can’t bag them for having confidence, but all of this smack talk is getting a little silly. Competition is fun and all, but Electronic Arts is toeing a very fine line. They better hope that Battlefield 3 performs like they’re promising, otherwise they’re in for a very embarrassing holiday season. However, judging our previews of game thus far, Battlefield 3 will deliver one heck of a compelling experience.
