EA is pulling out all the stops for their Battlefield 3 marketing campaign. There are still roughly six months until the anticipated November 2011 launch but already the publisher has been getting pretty vocal about the game, casting it as a veritable Call of Duty killer.
Activision is also gearing up for their annual Call of Duty release and they are bringing none other than Modern Warfare 3 to the party. Although Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare sat very well with gamers and critics alike, and also did well in terms of sales, it was Modern Warfare 2 that marked the beginning of an era of Call of Duty mainstream FPS and sales dominance.
EA wants to change that – the 2011 holiday season looks set to be an interesting one for FPS gamers. A battle of the titans is unfolding – the reigning Call of Duty champ versus the rising star of Battlefield.
On the one hand we have Battlefield development veterans DICE, comprised of a team that has been working together for over six years. They are touting their new Frostbite 2 engine and its destructible environments and advanced rendering glory, even claiming that current generation consoles are being pushed to the limit by the engine. They have also said that the PC is the primary development platform for the title, news which pleased the stalwart PC gaming segment who often bemoan the trend of console-first, PC-port development philosophy. Console gamers needn’t worry though, DICE intends to deliver a solid package for them as well.
Battlefield 3 – planning to deliver
On the other hand, we have highly recognisable brand names in Call of Duty and Modern Warfare, but a publisher that has been reeling from the walk-out of a number of lead developers responsible for making Modern Warfare successful in the first place. Black Ops gave Treyarch the opportunity to step up and fill the gap, but despite record breaking sales, the fact remains that Black Ops was marred with launch day bugs and glitches and has generated a fair level of disdain among some segments of the gaming community. Freshly formed Sledgehammer Games and recently downsized Raven Software are rumoured to be working on Modern Warfare 3 – will they be able to match up to the product offered by DICE and EA?
During an interview with Industry Gamers, Lincoln Hershberger, EA’s Senior Director of Marketing, discusses just how the publisher intends to seize the FPS crown. “With Battlefield 3, we believe that we have superior technology and gameplay. We just need for everyone else in the mainstream to know that too.”
Hershberger admitted that they may have fumbled the Bad Company 2 launch, with the title only coming out in March 2010. Hershberger believes that despite the fact that Bad Company 2 generally received higher critical scores than the competition, a lot of the mainstream holiday buyers were simply not aware that the title existed.
“This year, we’re playing offense by launching Battlefield 3 in the holiday and we’re starting to get the word out early by kicking off our campaign to the mass market. We decided to go big early in order to establish a beachhead with a larger audience and so far the results have been fantastic,” said Hershberger.
To that end, EA has already begun a TV marketing campaign to create awareness for the title; example below.
EA has also begun what will be an extensive social networking marketing campaign, enlisting gamers themselves to help spread the word about the title. “The power of social networks is amazing and fun to watch. We built a Facebook tool that lets the community unlock special content. In just one week, our first effort more than doubled the Battlefield Facebook community (from 400K to +900K),” said Hershberger.
Hershberger outlined what they hope will prove to be a seductive bit of bonus content to lure in buyers: “We’ve created a great offer for the Limited Edition – that includes our first expansion pack called Back to Karkand. Battlefield has always delivered a lot of great post launch expansion packs.”
Finally, he described plans to create a Battlefield online portal through which all levels of FPS gamers will find a game and community to suit them: “We’re building an online destination that will not only unify the Battlefield brands, but create a more immersive social network experience for Battlefield players. Whether you’re interested in the Play 4 Free type experience or full on HD console and PC gameplay, we’re investing in a Battlefield portal to ensure FPS fans find what they’re looking for.”
Check out the Battlefield Faultline trailer below. Do you think Battlefield 3 is going to live up to the hype being generated by EA? << Share your thoughts on the MyGaming forum.
Source: Industry Gamers
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