Battlefield 3 pre-orders at ~2 million

Battlefield 3 pre-orders stand at a “couple [of] million” a week ahead of launch, EA has revealed.

In late-September, Battlefield 3 pre-orders stood at 1.5 million.

“We’re doing very very well,” Battlefield 3 product manager Kevin O’Leary told Fox Business (via IGN).

“Couple [of] million out there.

“We’ve already announced we’ve done great numbers so far,” he added. “Couple more weeks to go. We’re very excited.”

When pressed on Battlefield versus Call of Duty, O’Leary described EA’s challenge as a “long-term strategy”.

“We’re looking at it as a long-term strategy,” he said. “Obviously Battlefield 3 is a great, brand new proposition out there.

“The franchise is poised to succeed and we had great success with our previous title, Battlefield: Bad Company 2. And we’re really excited to bring Battlefield 3 out and convert a lot of people over to this warfare experience.”

Developer DICE announced this morning that the Battlefield 3 open beta had been played by over 8 million people.