Ben-DutkaThis year, one topic dominated headlines: Battlefield 3 vs. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 .
Sure, it took a variety of different forms – EA/DICE vs. Activision/Infinity Ward, BF vs. CoD fans, third-parties commenting on the war, etc. – but nevertheless, the battle between these two shooters was a continual subject of debate.
Now, I got bored really fast. I still had to report the news so it was impossible to ignore it entirely, and I got bored rapidly . Hell, I was bored by August. And with both games over a month behind us now, I was taking a deep breath and looking forward to 2012. Different headlines, different popular topics, different discussions. But wait… We're definitely going to get another CoD entry right around the holidays, and if EA is serious about contending with the Battlefield franchise, don't they need to do the same thing…?
They can't afford to skip a year. EA just said they probably gained some market share ; won't they lose everything they gained if another Call of Duty easily dominates the holiday season with no offering from their primary competition? Wouldn't EA task DICE with pumping out another Battlefield installment? I mean, they've already got that fancy new engine; all they really have to do is tweak and refine. CoD desperately needs a new engine but there's no chance in hell Activision will miss a year.
But here's the silver lining (I hope): if this does turn into an annual contest, it'll quickly lose some of its appeal. It just reminds me of one of those old sports battles; i.e., the new Madden vs. the new NFL 2K . That gets a little tiring, even for the most die-hard fans. But even so, I would really hope to see something new grabbing the majority of headlines in 2012.
Anything .
I think Medal of Honor comes out next year. Very excited about it I thought the last one had the best single player campaign of any fps I have played
I'd be glad if COD had someone that was a serious annual competitor, it would push developers on both sides to innovate and improve. I think this is something the FPS genre really needs. When you look at how some other genres are improving by leaps and bounds, like Uncharted in the action adventure genre, it certainly makes MW3 feel a lot like COD2. Honestly, if you focus on the single player campaign, COD has barely in years.
The booming popularity of online multiplayer shooters has stunted the growth of the FPS genre. It's been reduced to adding new perks and game modes. I love both single and multiplayer FPSs but I just feel like it's time for some "WOW" moments like the ones UC2 delivered for the action adventure genre.
COD need some good competition
Competitions is good for all!
CoD's got a lot of great competition (hell, any shooter with dedicated servers is already significantly better in my book, as less lag >>> ADHD collect-em-upping any day of the week) – the issue is that CoD's become a social movement more than a game, so the other shooters only generate 'normal' levels of sales because people only buy them as games, not because all their mates at school have it.
Its not that there isn't anything on the market for COD to compete with, its just that most of them go out of their way to be "another game" and try to avoid competing with COD
Direct competition will make both games better and ultimately get the consumer a better everything no matter which product they prefer.
EA once said that they want to switch between Battlefield and MoH, but that only means that it'll be a different title for comparison. I do believe that it will be much the same as this past year, with much of everything being pointed directly at these two heavyweights. That being said… Next year is lining up to be awesome, so I reckon it'll be easier to ignore with plenty of things more worthy of being talked about cropping up.
The problem is, there were plenty of excellent games to talk about this year, and yet all the limelight was on Battlefield and CoD. IMO, next year is gonna be just as loaded as this one was (if not a little less because of fewer Sony exclusives), so there's probably still gonna be a major focus on this whole Battlefield/MoH vs. CoD thing.
i hope they do the switch with moh, i dont want battlefield to turn into an annual franchise
i don't know why ea or any one should worry battlefield has over 5 to 6 million players and happy gamers who love the game for what it is weather or not cod comes out with another game or not battlefield will still be a more complete game 2 years /3 years hell five years from now this game will be better than any think cod has to offer and if cod wants to stay on top well it means they will just have to make a better game than bf3 so more power to them if they can. pluss hopefully bad company will get another game and medal of honor gets some more attention hey moh was not that bad all it needed was squad spawn and a base to spawn at and bam plus what about all the dlc dice has in store for bf3 i think they have things to keep the game fresh and going for a long time .with that said great game dice keep up the great work
Regarding what new topic grabbing the headlines by this time next year I put my money on it being the next gen consoles.
EA said ages ago there alternating between MoH and BF, BF4 would be impossible for next year!
even if they scrapped the SP campaign and co-op and only had new maps they would struggle to get it out by next year!
im really looking forward to the new MoH though, i really enjoyed last years reboot!
i just hope this time the SP is MUCH longer, come on 6 hours for a 110 game is not acceptable!
The thing that happened with Madden vs 2K is that EA saw how much better 2K was gonna be, and so they got a CONTRACT with the NFL so they would be the ONLY company making NFL games with REAL player names.
EA needs to let other devs make NFL games…
Aren't EA going to alternate between BF and MOH the way Activision does with Infinity Ward and Treyarch?
As an FPS loyalist that suits me just fine.
I would be even more happy if the next PS3 version of Battlefield didn't have so much input lag though …
That would be awesome! I would love for them to alternative between two franchises!
i'm sure bioshock infinite is going to get plenty of headlines on its own next year. On to better things for sure, although i do love me some battlefield. I haven't played mw3 but i'm sure it's a great game. I'll stick with battlefield though.
Don't forget they have Battlefield Bad Company as a franchise too.
Gaming, since it's dawn has always had fanboys.
SOny MS, Cod bf, commodore spectrum.
It's never ending.
"They can't afford to skip a year." Wrong, EA has said all along they would have a three teir strategy when attempting to deal with CoD's market share. They are going to ALTERNATE games.
EA's gonna alternate between Battlefield and MoH each year Ben. The strategy here is that slowly over time they can get both franchises up to the point where they beat CoD. And with the massive sales BF3 had this year, it seems like the strategy is beginning to work.
I don't see DICE throwing quality out the window to produce a shit product every 12 months…