Although there’s apparent contention between the fan bases for Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Electronic Arts’ global publishing boss explains that she and EA hold no enmity toward Activision and its myriad development studios, as its presence in the gaming world is just as viable as her company’s. Regarding the two FPS titles being pitted against one another, though, Miele is looking forward to the match-up when both Battlefield 1 and Infinite Warfare release this fall.
Of course, while Miele is a proponent for healthy competition between the two titles, she did go on to state that the “fan response” to Battlefield 1’s official reveal trailer was “incredibly gratifying.” As a matter of fact, the EA global publishing boss implied that the positive reactions were more than likely due to the decision to go against the grain by putting the game in a World War I setting, saying, “We zigged when the market was zagging in shooters and it was pretty thrilling to see how the market received the game in that way.”
“I think it’s just a fun competition and I think our fans and our players love to play it up. That’s kind of the nature of our industry as the entertainment category that we’re in.”
For those fans who are unaware of how other gamers responded to Battlefield 1’s reveal, people caused the footage to garner more than a million likes on YouTube in its first week, which ultimately made the video become the most popular trailer in the site’s history. As far as Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare first trailer is concerned, however, the game’s clip received tons of hate from fans, causing it to become one of the most disliked videos to ever grace YouTube.
It’s obvious at this point that fans are going to support their favorite games with fervor, but that doesn’t necessarily provide an accurate reflection of the titles’ sales or critical reception. For instance, even though the Call of Duty brand seems to be perceived negatively on an almost constant basis by the gaming community, the franchise’s releases often tend to be the highest grossing titles on the market when launched, with one example being Black Ops 3’s status as 2015’s best-selling game. Nevertheless, with neither Battlefield 1 or Infinite Warfare officially available, we will just have to wait and see what the industry as a whole—fans, critics, and developers alike—has to say about the games when they release this fall.
Battlefield 1 is set to release on October 21, 2016 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, while Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare drops on November 4, 2016 for the same platforms.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz (via VG 24/7)
