Battlefield 3 gets $50 million advertising budget from EA
The second bit of the headline may not be true; we believed that the reader should have some cushion, in the form of cheap humour, after reading the astronomical figure that Electronic Arts has allocated its up-coming first person shooter.
The hype for Battlefield 3 was high enough already and it seems Electronic Arts want to make sure that the level is raised even further with the investment in the marketing of the game.
Currently billboards with the, rather sweet looking, Battlefield 3 cover art have sprung up all over the major urban areas of the United Kingdom, as gamers and non-gamers alike get their first taste of what is set to be a long and gruesome marketing war
between EA and Activision (the Publishers behind the rival Call of Duty series).
So far the capital of England, London and other cities such as Bracknell, Salisbury and Birmingham have all gotten a dose of the Battlefield 3 campaign, yet that is only the tip of the ice berg.
It seems that EA are focusing on hyping the game for one of England’s largest gaming expos. Taking place at the NEC Arena in Birmingham, GAMEFEST is a platform where developers show off their latest projects, much like E3 but with a British accent and on
a slightly smaller scale.
However, it seems that Activision will be willing to match the investment made by EA, as analysts predict that the $100milion mark could easily be surpassed when the former enters the fry as well.
It seems a logical move on EA’s part; seeing how the game comes out before the competition. While Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is releasing in November, between Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception and Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, EA
decided to get a head start on the chaotic holiday season by dating their game for a release on the 28th of October.
Relations between EA and Activision have grown increasingly sour, as both do not seem to hold back when it comes to verbal jousting and passing comments on their rivals. At E3 an Activision representative was denied access to the EA booth where Battlefield
3 was showcased.
Activision also claimed that EA’s title was more of an engine rather than a game. However, things became really ugly when Activision filed a suit against a website which redirected users who clicked on modernwarfare3.com to a fake ‘official site’. Activision
claimed that the site was supporting a competitive rival.
The war between Battlefield and Modern Warfare may not have just begun, but it is far from over.
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