The battle between Call of Duty and Battlefield for supremacy in the shooter market is a healthy thing for the industry, and one EA hopes to win later this year when the latest entries in each series go head-to-head.

Asked if Battlefield 4 can outsell Call of Duty: Ghosts, EA Labels boss Frank Gibeau told CVG: "Look, we are absolutely going for it. It's a competition and we feel really good about Battlefield 4, and we have an old saying at EA which is 'transition is our friend', and we're going to try to lap them with new technology, new innovation and new capabilities. So do I think we're going to do better than last time? Absolutely.

"When we started this challenge, back with Bad Company 1, I think the ratio was something like 95/5, so we pushed and pulled to get that figure even," Gibeau continued. "Something I learned from the EA Sports business - with regards to FIFA versus Pro Evolution and Madden versus 2K - these fights are good for the industry. They're good for customers. Competition drives innovation, and from our perspective some people snigger at these two companies going head-to-head but actually it's good for our industry, it's good for customers and it's good for our dev team."

EA's Medal of Honor series has been taken out of rotation, but Gibeau told us other franchises will step up to take on Call of Duty in non-Battlefield years.

"The shooter rotation we think about now is Battlefield, Titanfall and Battlefront, and so we like those three brands going forward," he said. "We're working out how we're going to line that up because that's what you'll see from us. With regards to Medal of Honor, you try things in entertainment and if they don't work you try something else. From our perspective, Battlefield 3 and Battlefield Premium continues to grow."

Posted: Aug 27, 2013 5:11 pm
Related Forum: Call of Duty Forum

Source: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/426617/call-of-duty-versus-battlefield-is-good-for-the-industry-says-ea-exec/