EA’s Internationally Award-Winning Battlefield 3 Begins Its Assault on Retail Worldwide

The entertainment event of the year has arrived. DICE announced that Battlefield 3, winner of over 60 industry awards worldwide, is now available at retail stores in North America. With close to 3 million pre-sales*, Battlefield 3 is the biggest first-person shooter launch in EA history.

Celebrated for its immersive single-player campaign, intense co-op mode and explosive multiplayer gameplay, Battlefield 3 launches with a 93 on Metacritic and is being heralded as “unforgettable” by IGN.com, “mesmerizing” by Joystiq and the “must have first-person shooter of the year” from GameSpy, who awarded Battlefield 3 a perfect 5 out of 5. Even prior to launch, fans around the world have already demonstrated their anticipation for the game with over 100 million video views and over 2 million “likes” on the Battlefield Facebook page in addition to thousands having purchased fan merchandise at the DICE store. Additionally, an astounding 9.5 million gamers downloaded the September beta and collectively set new social online play records for EA with 42 billion shots fired and 1.6 billion kills registered, 21 million exploded M-Com stations and 19 million dog tags lost at the end of a knife.

Battlefield 3 goes above and beyond the competition with the state-of-the-art Frostbite™ 2 game engine that creates a massive sense of scale, completely destructible environments and enables players to pilot a range of vehicles from jets and tanks to choppers and jeeps. With the addition of Battlelog, the Battlefield social network service, fans old and new can stay connected as they rise to the challenge to become one of the world’s best soldiers. To accompany the game, Orion Publishing will release a novel called Battlefield 3: The Russian written by the highly decorated ex-SAS operator and best-selling author of Bravo Two Zero, Andy McNab, with co-author Peter Grimsdale. McNab worked with the creative team at DICE to ensure the authenticity of today’s warfare is experienced in the single player, co-op and multiplayer campaigns.

The Battlefield franchise began in 2002 and has risen to international acclaim over the last decade. Developed by DICE in Stockholm, Sweden, the series has sold 40M unit’s life-to-date. Since the launch of the first title, Battlefield 1942™, DICE has released 17 games and expansion packs in the Battlefield franchise; all with the series’ signature open sandbox gameplay, vast array of military vehicles and an emphasis on social multiplayer with friends. With the release of Battlefield 3, DICE takes the franchise – and the shooter category – to new heights with the introduction of the advanced Frostbite 2 game engine technology and the Battlelog social network.