"No, BF3 doesn’t have a shot of outselling MW3." - Michael Pachter Interview

GameZone's Tate Steinlage gets an exclusive interview with gaming analyst Michael Pachter, where they discuss BF3 vs MW3, his daily activities as a gaming analying, the price tag on video games being adjusted, and the 3DS price cut.

[zeksta]

No, Michael Patcher's comments doesn't apply to shit within the gaming community.

God, this guy, always commenting on things he should keep has damn nose out of.

[LOGICWINS]

Pachter likely makes more money in a year than you will in your entire life by commenting on gaming and advising clients on this industry's climate. Why would he stop?

[zeksta]

Cause, he's frankly an annoyance, just look at his past articles..

[LOGICWINS]

You say hes an annoyance...yet you freely chose to click/comment on an article with the words "Michael Pachter" in the title???

[Peppino7]

With current pre orders on par with each other, BF3 might have a shot to pull it off. I know a bunch of cod players who will be buying the game.

[Shanks]

Hey look, its LOGICWINS trying to make a point... again.
/facepalm

[JokesOnYou]

Usually whatever Pachter says you can expect the opposite, but this is just an obvious attempt to raise his prediction percentage.....I predict Halo4 will outsell Bulletstorm, now where's my 10k?

[StanLee]

Anyone who believes Battlefield 3 has a shot of selling as much as Modern Warfare 3, is naive. Battlefield does not have the broad appeal Call of Duty has. To some, Call of Duty will be the only game they purchase this year. The community is still half a million strong nightly while BFBC2 barely has as many online as World at War does 3 years later. How much each game sells isn't representative of which is better but that's a different conversation. Modern Warfare 3 will easily sell 20 million across all platforms, Battlefield 3 will struggle to get to 8 million units across all platforms.

[evrfighter]

You know. Activision and kotick will be shittin bricks if bf3 comes within 2 million of cod. I don't believe battlefield can beat out cod this year as cod's downward spiral has just begun.

However. Should battlefield come within a couple million. That will signify the end of cod. and I believe that is whats goin to happen.

[Tr10wn]

Battlefield will never outsell COD in this gen, everyone knows what COD is and the downward wont be happening till next gen, then they will build another engine and all will be the same, the truth is that the silent majority "the normal people" will keep buying the games no matter how old it gets.

[hiredhelp]

You know the way i see it.
Cod wont last forever we have seen many devs working on sequels of this game that i cant even remember a game that had differnt devs making on one ip.
But that being said youl always have your cod fans. that wont stop unless they choose to.
But i beleave that some of you people have realised that cod is getting a bit much and have chosen to
A- quit the game move on to battlefield 3 or other!
B-Get both
Even if bf3 doesnt if you like "WIN" this silly sales war or whos better than who.
one thing is forr sure its gonna leave a lasting impression and turned alot of heads.
Its also helped pc community to get devs back into taken more notice on pc gamers too.

For me activision needs to do alot more to bring me back.
New engine that gamers have wasted millions pounds in DLC to you that could pay for.
for god sakes remember where call of duty come from b4 perks were implamented.

[Laxman216]

For those of you defending him; do you realize he was literally only ever been right ONCE about game sales with his pre-release comments, and that was with the original Spider Man movie tie-in game on the original Xbox?

His opinions are void.

[SephirothX21]

Just because he makes a lot of money, doesn't mean he is right. It is obvious that MW3 will outsell BF3. Just as it is obvious that BF3 will be the better game. Though the CoD series will eventually fail if they don't start innovating with future instalments. The team that put CoD on the map are now mostly with EA at Respawn Entertainment. IW are shadows of their former selves.

[Tr10wn]

"IW are shadows of their former selves" thats yet to be seen in MW3 you don't know that, and about BF3 being better than MW3 that's a matter of choice i personally own BFBC2 and i don't like it at all but my friend like and that's enough to buy the game, i played that alpha of BF3 and looks like thay are adopting alot of cod play style it feel more fast paced and more fluid than bfbc2, and like i said above, silent majority always win, you may ask why cod sell that much when you and your friend don' like that game, silent majority>gamers

[SephirothX21]

Well I think the name sells CoD. I base what I say on my probability hypothesis. I think it is probable that on average, gamers will be more satisfied with BF3 than with MW3. From the looks of MW3, it seems to be the same old thing. With BF3, there is the new Frostbite engine, more people in multiplayer, better graphics and destruction, better weapon handling and of course, vehicles. Can you fly a jet in MW3? No you can't. Can you cause destruction to walls in MW3? No you can't. Can you play with another 32 players online on consoles and another 63 players online on pc in MW3? Yet again, no you can't. Also, DICE are experienced fps devs. Sledgehammer Games are not. I will get BF3 day 1, assuming the feedback is good. Even if MW3 gets great reviews, I'll probably be too busy with BF£ and UC3 to care and then there is the GOTY releasing November 11th so I won't really have time. Hell I haven't played Black Ops yet. Oh well...

[JeffGUNZ]

@ Zeksta. You know he was ASKED to do this interview. So, would you prefer him to only answer "no comment" when it deals with a topic you don't want to hear? Give me a break, he was asked these questions in an INTERVIEW. Additionally, it's solely his opinion and beliefs, he is not stating anything as fact.

[Lazy_Sunday]

We already know BF3 will be outsold by MW3. Without a doubt. They may come close as BF3 begins to catch on, but the zero-to-hero strategy of CoD, the ease of access, and it's utilization as a stepping stone like a gateway drug to other FPS games--I can't see CoD being overtaken for another 2 or 3 tries by the Battlefield series. Though, I definitely see BF, if it continues at this pace, overtaking CoD very, VERY soon. Just maybe not BF3.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

@zeksta well... maybe gaming media should stop asking him question then? You jump down his throat for answering a question asked of him...he didn't just come out and say this with out being prompted you know.

"GZ: As an analyst, where do you see Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 stacking up sales wise. This is the first year where many are seeing Battlefield as a threat to Call of Duty’s “crown.” Call of Duty’s player base is unanimously the largest out there, so does Battlefield 3 really have a shot of outselling MW3?"

Maybe you should be bitching at gamezone.com for asking him the question instead.

[frostyhat123]

@Zeksta Patcher is right on this one! there is just too big of s following for cod for Bf3 to bet it in sales... But it doesn't mean it can't take a chunk out of the market share

[iamnsuperman]

You should watch Pach attack sometimes. He explains how he makes money. No offence zeksta just because he says something you do not like doesn't mean he should stop he, i dunno, job. He gets paid to comment on this stuff. He isn't some random guy or some random developer. He is analyst. It was he does for a living. He getting asked a question for his job he isn't going to say nothing. All those people agree with you fail to see then he does it for a living and should not keep his nose out of it

[AEtherbane]

But he's right though. BF3, imo, is the better game, but COD has a much higher degree of brand recognition. People who don't play ames much know about COD, and have likely never heard of Battlefield. I still wont buy COD, but that doesn't mean millions and millions of others wont.

[NYC_Gamer]

It's the truth BF3 won't outsell MW3.both games will be enjoyed by fans of fps and that's what really matters.

[Blaze929]

yeah I'm not sure why anyone would really think for a second BF3 would outsell MW3. Now next year, BF4 and the next CoD might be a different story.

The way I see it, BF3 is like the launch of a new IP - or relaunch rather. Many are just now becoming aware of Battlefield thanks to BF3 - never really seen hype for a BF game like this before BF3. If BF3 delivers (which it looks like it will) then people will be anticipating BF4 a lot more than what, the 7th call of duty game - and probably from Treyarch?

[raWfodog]

I agree with some of the points that you made, Blaze. I never touched a COD game before Modern Warfare. I decided to give it a try because I heard a lot of buzz about it and saw that it got a lot of good reviews. I played it, got hooked, and looked forward to future titles.

I suspect the same will happen with BF3 for a lot of people new to the series.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

@Blaze929... "Now next year, BF4 and the next CoD might be a different story." If EA/Dice release a new BF4 "next year" all those BF supporters who have been clamouring about Activision releasing one COD after another will have a sh!t load of crow to eat.

[Moragami]

Next year, EA will pump out another Medal of Honor, then the year after maybe BF4, maybe BFBC3. It's hard to say what will come out, can't predict when and if the consoles are ever going to be updated to a new generation.

[Jio]

Hey, remember when he said the 3DS was going to be the greatest selling gadget of all time and that the PS Vita was doomed before it was even announced? But in all fairness, this one is sadly true. Gamers keep buying MW3, when I ask my friends why they're getting it after the shameful Black Ops they still don't give a valid reason other than it's fun. Why they're not getting BF3 they say because they hated Bad Company -_-

[caseh]

He fucked up with the call on 3DS lol, I never really bothered to look at it until the other day but OMG what a turd of a handheld Nintendo have unleashed on the world.

I managed a whole 3 minutes of Pilotwings before the feeling of my eyes bleeding made me walk away from it.

[AdvanceWarsSgt]

Something tells me you thought the DS was a turd when it was originally released as well.

[gamingdroid]

Yeah, I didn't enjoy BC2... will likely stay away from BF3, especially if it has online pass.

[KingSlayer]

But Gears 3 pass is ok?

[JeffGUNZ]

Gears 3 season pass is different. All it does is allow people to pay upfront to save money in the long run. It's also not just for MP maps, it's also new campaign additions.

[gamingdroid]

Yes, because it is extra content that I'm not forced to buy. The season pass isn't needed in order to play Gears 3 at all, online or offline.

Besides, the amount of content on Gears 3 from what I understand is already significantly more than previous games.

While online passes seeks to restrict me in how I use my game disc i.e. if I want to lend it or share it with others. EA took a privilege I had instead of adding value with the online pass.

I take value add over repackaged restrictions any time.

edit: @creatchee

To clarify, the season pass includes the next 4 DLCs free with a rad weapons skin if it floats your boat. See here:

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

It is a savings over buying the DLC individually.

[creatchee]

@KingSlayer

You don't actually need the online pass to play Gears multiplayer. It's solely for discounted DLC.

[_Aarix_]

Season pass applys to dlc and online pass applys to online

[Hicken]

No, the Gears pass is designed to make you either pay for it up front, or pay even MORE later on. If BC2 is anything to go by, the online pass for BF3 will net you most- not all- extra maps for free.

[caseh]

'Something tells me you thought the DS was a turd when it was originally released as well. '

Not at all, I enjoyed the DS just not the sheer volume of shovelware that was released for it. I ended up selling it in favour of a PSP.

The 3DS on the otherhand, seriously I don't know if it was genuinely supposed to look 3D or just add depth but it felt like I was looking one of those holigram pictures, the ones that appear to move and look 3D when you look at it from slightly different angles. I mean to say, I was stood there moving my head as I just wasn't getting a clear view of it, just looked...for lack of a better word, fucked.

[theonlylolking]

LOL most of my friends are like that as well. I do have a very small amount that can give me a reason like"this is a different IW and sledgehammer is also making this game and they are new so I will give them a try."

[kingdoms]

He seen the Pre-order charts and that gave him the confidence to say what everybody thinks already.

[caseh]

He's probably going on past trends more than anything. Thats all analysts really do, analyse past trends.

[StayStatic]

Let me get find my care face ..... oh wait some one stole it ...... = /

[xtremexx]

Wasnt this kinda obvious? weren't we going with the whole BF3 will be better but wont outsell COD thing.

[KingSlayer]

It won't outsell MW3, but it will definitely take some of its sales.

[kingslayer1000]

battlefield 3 will be the better game, so much more you can do in it

[KendrickGLS]

You're totally right! It's about time somebody see my point of view on this! Battlefield 3! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Righteous!

[TBM]

Mikey your stating the obvious, but I don't care I believe that i'll enjoy BF3 more than MW3 even though i'll probably enjoy it too just not as much BF3

[fooxy]

I like this guy predictions, sometimes some of em I could compare to my local stations weather forecast :D

[MasterCornholio]

It wont sell MW3 but in my opinion it will be better that it.

[zerox505]

i think bf3 will be like cod4, i'm sure cod4 didn't outsell halo 3, but overtime it began to become even more popular and when mw2 came out it became the most popular fps on consoles...

[JeffGUNZ]

I really don't think it will at all. You are taking DICE's bait. Almost all the footage you have seen of this game has been running on the top of the line gaming rig. Other then improved engine to deliver better visuals/sound, the game will play like every other DICE MP game. They haven't really added anything game breaking or really innovative to the game play mechanics. Don't get me wrong, I will be picking this game up eventually, but this game will feel very similar to BC2. COD4 was an experience we weren't expecting, it added such a unique ranking depth and features that made people keep coming back for more. I just don't see anything like that with BF3. It will be a great game, but nothing groundbreaking, at least on consoles that is.

[MrSent]

I've played the alpha. In no way does it feel like Bad Company 2. quit sucking on CoDs bait. All you've done is shown your ignorance. They havent added anything "game" breaking? you mean ground breaking. Oh and you must live under a rock I suppose. your statements are false. "Other than improved engine to deliver better visuals/sound"
Oh do please shut up.

EHHH Wrong again. How bout physics, destruction, huge maps? The ranking system, unlocks, weapons, VEHICLES, etc.. etc..

Get off your high ignorant horse.

[JeffGUNZ]

@ MrSent.

I have shown ignorance? Do you even know what that word means? First off, I am only planning on getting Gears 3 for the rest of the year, and I will eventually pick up BF3 and MW3 during the holidays. You listed things below, which are excellent indeed, but are not ground breaking to any FPS. "How about physics, desturction, huge maps?" Those elements were in BC and BC2, how are any of those ground breaking to the FPS genre? They were groundbreaking when DICE first implemented them into a game, but now they are just improving them. You continue to list things that have already been done.

Listen guy, I am not saying BF3 will be bad or subpar in anyway whatsoever, I actually think it will be a great game. I am only pointing out the fact that from what we have seen, has already been done with DICE in their previous games. They just improved them. I am asking you, what is DICE putting into this game that is brand new, ground breaking, to the FPS genre? I am no fanboy at all, I am just not falling into the hype.

When I talk about groundbreaking, I am talking about things like COD4 did, with the incredible in-depth multiplayer/ranking system. COD4 set the par and brought so many new features to the FPS genre, that is why it became so popular.

Also, Gears of War set the bar for TPS when it was originally released in 2006, with the best cover system seen to date. The over-the-shoulder, intimate TPS experience that Gears brought to the table was groundbreaking.

From what I have seen, there is nothing showing anything I haven't seen. Again, the improvements with the visuals, sounds, destruction, etc, are amazing upgrades from previous releases, but that's all they really are, upgrades.

LAstly, I do think this game will be a great time, but I am focusing on what they are bringing to the table that they haven't already, or something we have NEVER seen yet. If there is something you experienced in the alpha, please show me.

Learn how to take someone else's opinions. You're not going to make it very far in the world if this is how you react when someone has an opposing opinion.

[FlintGREY]

It won't outsell MW3....but I'll happy be happy if it did. BF3 deserves all the sales that MW3 gets plus more, because IMO it's a better game.

Edit..

Well BF as a franchise is better than CoD imo...haven't played the third iteration of each yet to judge.

[Funky Town_TX]

I was hoping to get in a BF beta if they had one.

[Ser]

It's common knowledge that BF3 will not outsell MW3. I'm more interested in seeing the review scores for both games.

[JellyJelly]

Whatev, whacky Packy. Bring on the beta, Dice! My body is ready and yearning for it!!

[Happythedog]

I like COD sue me. I only play one first person shooter game and it's that one.

[ExitToExisT]

you dont have to be an analyst to know that

[WooHooAlex]

This is the same guy that predicted PSVita to be dead on arrival and that Nintendo would regret selling the 3DS at $250 because he thought they could get more than that.

His predictions suck.
He is gonna be right with this one tho.

[Funky Town_TX]

COD will slaughter BF in sales. That does not mean COD is better. N4G COD haters should calm down. The guy is only making a prediction.

[DJMarty]

God this guys a prick, 'STFU'.

Well I like others hav'nt bought COD for the last two outtings and have no intensions of getting the next one.

BF3 maybe, MW3 not a chance.

[Reborn]

It will eat into MW3 sales more than previous years.

However, chances are it won't outsell it. That's not a surprise.

[ape007]

what??

i bet that mw3 will be the best selling cod yet, just look at the youtube views of modern warfare 3

bf3 may gain "more" popularity because of CoD

im not taking anything away from bf3, it looks amazing and DAY 1 buy 4 me

[Reborn]

Oh, no.

I wasn't saying BF3 will outsell MW3. I just said it will eat into its sales. Which it will. Or maybe a lot of people will buy both?

But yea, BF3 will get a good amount of sales. But like everyone knows, COD can only be outsold by its sequel.

[lugia 4000]

I don't like him, but yes this is true.

[maxmill]

captain obvious

[death2smoochie]

As much as I think Patcher should be bi**** slapped, he is actually right here for once.
MW3 will outsell BF3 and most likely by a lot.
BF3 is indeed the better quality game then MW3, but MW3 has the larger audience base that prefer a game that can be played by 7 year olds.
COD fans will not pick up BF3 because that game actually requires skill to play.
That is like Kryptonite to COD players: Skill

[ape007]

im a cod fan and im gonna buy bf3, both are different both take skill but cod is more accessible

[capcock]

CoD is the game you play when u don't know what to play since it's so simple (very unbalanced though).

[Clarence]

I agree with Patcher this time. BF3 IMO will be the better game, but MW has the effect that it's cool to own MW. Regardless if the game is good or not. MW will be a repeat of all MW games that came before it. The game sells are phenomenal, so I can see why Activision has not changed the format.

[KendrickGLS]

That is so true! And I thought I was the only one who noticed that.

[BladedTech]

You know, why do we still listen to this dude? He's been SO wrong.

[Donnywho]

Better stay with the obvious predictions

[JonnyBigBoss]

But it has a 95% chance of being the better game.

[CanadianTurtle]

Honestly, who didn't see this coming? Its obvious and crystal clear that MW3 will sell more, but that still doesn't make MW3 the better game -__-

The fact is that, even if you get battlefield3, you will still have many, many people to play with. So what if MW3 sells more? The fact is that a lot of people will also buy BF3, just not as much as its competition.

[Relientk77]

Obviously MW3 will sell millions more

[KendrickGLS]

Battlefield 3! Frostbite Engine! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Righteous!

[Spenok]

Why is Pachter saying this? Even EA doesn't expect to outset CoD.... they expect to take market share, but not outsell....

[clrlite]

too many nubs and casuals on this website. I still love you anyway though. now hurry up and preorder MW3.

[Ocean]

I'll be too busy playing BF3 to wonder how COD is selling

[Blues Cowboy]

And Borderlands was "sent to die," apparently.

Go back to your spreadsheets, Michael.

[MrSent]

EA has even stated that it isn't going to beat MW3 in sales. But, it has stated that it has a LONG TERM strategy to eventually become the # 1 FPS.

[MrSent]

Because you don’t know the definition I will gladly help you with this.

Ignorant can be defined as:

http://www.merriam-webster....

1 a : destitute of knowledge or education <an ignorant society>; also : lacking knowledge or comprehension of the thing specified <parents ignorant of modern mathematics> b : resulting from or showing lack of knowledge or intelligence <ignorant errors>
2
: unaware, uninformed
— ig•no•rant•ly adverb
— ig•no•rant•ness noun

When it comes to information regarding BF3, you are in fact, Ignorant. And furthermore, you could be considered for BOTH definitions 1 and 2 from the Meriam Dictionary.

You state this as fact:
“They haven't really added anything game breaking or really innovative to the game play mechanics.”

That is incorrect. There are a plethora of features in this game that make it groundbreaking. There is an enormous amount of content packed into this game.

You state this as fact:
“Other then improved engine to deliver better visuals/sound, the game will play like every other DICE MP game… but this game will feel very similar to BC2.”

Incorrect. I have first hand testimony to the Alpha build of BF3. And from that I can base my experience on the previous iterations of the Battlefield Series. To which I have also played I have come to the conclusion that it feels NOTHING like bad company 2. BF3 is an experience, as was the alpha.
You’d need to play the open beta for you to experience/understand it. But it proves the point that you have a per-conceptualized idea of the game and you are ruining it for yourself. The avatar’s movement feels much more precise, focused, and flexible than any other BF game. Transition to different positions feels right. (IMO) Youtube vids and everything else that violates the NDA wont show you how a game FEELS

FURTHERMORE:
ignorant may imply a general condition or it may apply to lack of knowledge or awareness of a particular thing <an ignorant fool> <ignorant of nuclear physics>.

^ For you it applies to BF3 (unless ofcourse you are ignorant in nuclear physics too, of which we have not discussed.
But Perhaps you are a little LESS ignorant of BF3 after learning some actual facts. Or maybe if you haven’t learned anything from the above, and then you may in fact be generally ignorant.
The problem with you, and others, is that you state things as fact and of which, they are nothing more than conjecture. You then retort your stated “facts” as opinions when you are called out for the falsehoods that you spew.

Groundbreaking as an adjective:

-using or showing new methods, ideas, etc
-using new methods, or achieving new result

Frostbite 2.0 is a groundbreaking engine that realized what DICE was striving for ever since the incarnation of BF2 in 2005. The scale, environments and everything about the Battlefield series has been rethought, retooled, re-imagined, and DICE is now capable of delivering that experience with this new engine.

If you timeline the Call of Duty Series and the Battlefield series, you can easily see which is innovative, and which is not.

Learn how to take fact as fact, instead of opinions. You’re not going to make it very far in the world if this is how you react when if you misconstrue the two.

And, your Gears 3 information is completely off topic

Have a great day!

[Saryk]

I would have never said that. Comments like those usually bite back!

[Cerv-Clash]

I think he has a point.I predict MW will sell millions more because there are more kids than adults playing games :)) seriously though...MW is just made for the masses and easy to get into BUT that doesn't necessarily make it a better game.

[StitchJones]

Does anyone really care about what Michael Pachter has to say anymore? If you go back over the past two years and watch his video clip segments he's been wrong with his comments more then 50% of the time. And a number of the predictions he has been right about are common sense so that doesn't take a whole lot of brain power. He's just not in tune with things anymore. He has overstayed his welcome and needs to fade away.

[Morgue]

Neither of them are getting my money for the time being.

[leemo19]

Of course MW3 will outsell bf3, it is cod. Cod is such mainstream now, that its like halo everybody knows what it is pretty much. Now will Mw3 be as good as Bf3 in bringing a better expereince most likely not. Mw3 would only be good imo if cod went back to the roots, got rid of the ridiculous perks they have now and everybody get the same kill streak, pretty much cod4.

[Moragami]

While I have no doubt MW3 will sell better on consoles, on PC I expect BF3 to destroy MW3's sales. Personally, I don't really care how it does on consoles, but it is interesting to see what appeals to the lowest common denominator.

[thespaz]

True.

[OMEGAXS1]

Children can play MW3, but not too many of those children can play BF3. SWAG.