'Battlefield 3' pre-orders thrash previous outing

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Battlefield 3 pre-orders are currently 10 times greater than those for Bad Company 2, according to EA Games boss Frank Gibeau.

The comparison was made during a July 26 conference call with investors.

As for Battlefield: Bad Company 2, released March 2010, it has so far sold a total of 9 million copies.

Genre rival Call of Duty shifted around 14 million copies of 2010's Black Ops in the US alone, with total sales approaching 20 million worldwide.