Battlefield 3 still lagging behind two Call of Duty games on Xbox Live

November 5, 2011 By Adam Rosenberg

Despite huge sales figures, Battlefield 3 still sits behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops on the most recent Xbox Live usage rankings.

Here’s an interesting blip on the Xbox 360 radar. The most recent online play rankings for Xbox Live put Battlefield 3 behind not one, but two Call of Duty games: Black Ops and 2009′s Modern Warfare 2. Electronic Arts threw a lot of words around about Battlefield‘s dominance in the months leading up to the DICE shooter’s release and even though the game has sold 5 million copies and currently leads 2011 in sales, it is now chowing down on some well-deserve humble pie.

There are a few factors working against the EA game here. For one, Battlefield 3 has been fraught with online play issues since it launched, particularly on the Xbox Live front. What’s more, it was recently revealed that Duty players could look forward to in-game rewards in next week’s Modern Warfare 3 for each previous game in the series that they’d gone Prestige (ie maxed out and reset their multiplayer progression progress) in.

The rankings are really just further proof that Battlefield 3 has suffered from a rocky launch. The multiplayer will probably gel once DICE gets a few more updates out the door and the server issues are worked out. I don’t think anyone ever really expected Battlefield to completely dominate the Xbox Live rankings, but it’s a little surprising to see it falling behind a pair of one- and two-year-old games.

Showing 17 comments

Trevor Whitlock at 11:51am 10th November 2011 Bullet drop, and actual damage. This game shows that they took the time to make this more realistic. I wish there was a dive button or control for the gernades and some spawn r a p e i n g but I enjoy it. not to mention that campers can die in the building they hide in with the oh so nice completely destructable environment. BTW @LEPHYS, Shotguns are leathal at a distance of more than 80 yards not 15 feet. The realism is more accurate than COD. At least the camping snipers have to learn the drop of their bullet. I play for realism if not I would have a N64 and play 007. MW3 has a force to reckon with unfortunately most gamers want the easy way to superiority with all the beneficial glitches that all COD games have. Black ops was the last game i will buy of the COD series and that was just for the zombie games. The online experience is wack. I love the option to enter almost any map on the server search(Thanks @ Jared Sirilo)
Lephys at 1:49pm 8th November 2011 The thing is, I'd love to know how it's doing on PC compared to the CoD games. Not that BF3's the most perfect game ever and CoD games suck or anything, but, I don't recall DICE/EA ever claiming "We will totally dominate SPECIFICALLY IN THE XBOX LIVE domain! SUCK IT!"They might've said that though. *shrug*Also, I think it's hilarious when people point out one little detail in an effort to justify their "That's the worst excuse for a video game I've ever seen in my entire life" comments. "This guy with a shotgun kept killing me from like 20 feet away, but shotguns should REALLY only one-shot from like 15 feet, max! THEREFORE THIS GAME IS A FAILURE!"How do you use ANY product? Haha. I could point out hundreds of little flaws in CoD games, and I'm STILL not gonna say they blow JUST because I happen to very much enjoy Battlefield better.
Jared Sirilo at 4:45am 7th November 2011 Phil Smith there is hardcore. Stop using quick match start using server browser. There go into filtering and choose hc. People that are overly critical are cod fans that can't comprehend the scale of the maps. While its not perfect neither is cod games.
Phil Smith at 4:37pm 6th November 2011 One of the main problems Ihave is not being(on my xbox) able to play hardcore mode. Having my sniper hit a guy three times..get the indicator, and not drop him is really bad. maybe a little more time seeing what the actual rounds do to a pig in a ballistics test would change their minds.
frizben at 5:53am 6th November 2011 I have played the game in both single , co-op and maltiplayer mode and I was not impressed. I did'nt like all of the icons on the screen . and they went a little overboard on bullet drop. and even in single player the game still had problems. and when a shell from a tank hits with in five feet of some one and it does not kill them get real.
axe8155 at 7:47pm 5th November 2011 I have played the battlefield games for over 8 years, but after reading that they will not allow someone to rent and try the game online without plucking down an additional $10. I have decided that I am not interested in this game, and even though I know EA would hate to hear this. I'm going to wait for the game to hit the bargain bin before I will invest in this game.Axe
Phil Smith at 10:47pm 5th November 2011 Actually, I'm thinking of canning it and putting the money towards Skyrim. Call me when a Bad Company game comes out. BTW, is it me or is there way to much non real gaming stuff like hitting the B button to open a stupid door?
Max Hammer at 10:38pm 5th November 2011 I'll never purchase another EA game in my life.
Simon Raging Sam at 9:24pm 5th November 2011 Lol battlefield was ment to be played on pc not xbox....
Zackery Brown at 7:37pm 5th November 2011 Hell, I'm waiting for 11-11-11 for Skyrim. It will replace shooters for me. Haha
mr-poneymuff at 10:53am 5th November 2011 @ GJP just to let you know pal Black Ops was made by Treyarch, Infinity Ward made Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2 now the infinitely better Modern Warfare 3
Phil Smith at 5:46pm 5th November 2011 BTW the whole bouncing video game feel of MOH is annoying as well. And their maps suck.
Morgan Somerville at 5:46pm 5th November 2011 Because it sucks. After all the trash talk, we got a product that was simply a prettier version than Bad Company 2 with a few tweaks. I sold it on Amazon yesterday. Can't wait for 11/8/11 :)
Phil Smith at 5:45pm 5th November 2011 I like it, but it is a hassle. They have some problems with the way they allocate damage as well. I'm kinda dissapointed, but it's still fun.
Paul Lowrie at 5:44pm 5th November 2011 EA games, that's why I won't buy it.
Scott Aron Bloom at 5:42pm 5th November 2011 Couldnt tell by the way my kids are playing..It could be because of the STUPID way EA is setting up the multiplayer..First, you have to have a EA account on top of your XBox live account.. Second, parental controls have to basically be turned off on the account, because EA does its own controls...
GjP at 10:08am 5th November 2011 MW2 was a pretty good game with crap for servers and the method of joining a server.. Black Ops had lots of problems at launch (game freeze, Spawn points that make no sense, VAC, which stinks, no prone,). And, to this day Black Ops is still a broken game which Infinity Ward refuses to fix..namely game freeze. I'm not talking about lag. BF3 had a few hic-ups on the PC launch. However, things are a lot better and have been taken care of in a timely manner. Activision is about pimping it's customers pockets for cash and DLC charges on broken games. The COD series as it is produced today, is best left to console kids.