So if the first fracas between the Battlefield and Call of Duty franchises has resulted in such an overwhelming sales victory for the Activision franchise, what evidence is there to suggest that the battle is far from over? What's to stop the same situation repeating for years to come?
The answer is simple: run Battlefield 3 on any reasonably powerful PC on high settings, and something wonderful happens. Not only are the visuals drastically improved, but you can play at 60 frames per second too, with no tearing. Try out Modern Warfare 3 on PC after a few rounds of Battlefield 3 in all its DirectX 11 splendour and you'll realise that the underlying Infinity Ward technology is of an age that is swiftly drawing to a close. Pared-back lighting, effects work and low-resolution textures made for machines based on vintage 2005 technology just won't cut the mustard - especially when scaled up to 1080p and beyond.
Today's high-spec PC is tomorrow's games console, and the smart money says we're just two years away from the arrival of a DirectX 11-powered next-generation Xbox. EA and DICE's investment in Frostbite 2's more high-end technology isn't just for hardcore PC enthusiasts - it is laying the groundwork for the mainstream games of tomorrow. Even more exciting is the fact that Battlefield 3 is just its first game on the new engine, so by the time the new consoles arrive, Frostbite 2 will be even better than it is now. Certainly, despite the undoubted majesty of Battlefield 3 on PC, there are still improvements that we'd really like to see. For example, input lag, even on a high-end PC, wasn't hugely improved over what we saw on Xbox 360, unless we disabled v-sync and ran the game well in excess of 60FPS (with all the tearing that inevitably ensues).
If the BF3/MW3 conflict tells us anything it's that we're dealing with developers and publishers with two very different agendas: the COD studios clearly have their focus on the present day, while DICE is looking to the future. Frostbite 2 works well on current-gen consoles, but it's built to challenge for the next-gen. How will Activision's collection of talented COD-focused studios respond? Now that's the battle we're really looking forward to witnessing.
