For the week of October 24th, Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 were still the most played games on Xbox LIVE. This has to be a disappointment to EA as Battlefield 3 released this week, as it finished in third. If you want to compare Call of Duty Black Ops to Battlefield 3. You can right now say that Battlefield 3 has under preformed at this moment. Black Ops sold a record 5 million copies on the first day and quickly became best selling video games ever. Battlefield 3 sold five million in the first week but you have to imagine that EA was expecting more, especially since Modern Warfare 3 was in two weeks.

Begs the question, how far Battlefield 3 can fall down the list? With Modern Warfare 2 second on the list, a game that came out in 2009. It’s still one of the many reasons many play Xbox Live. The fact is that the casual and core audiences have made Call of Duty its multiplayer output and that is not going to change for a long time.

The reason Battlefield 3 sits at third is it fails to appeal to the mass gaming community. Even though Battlefield 3 was slimmed down and introduced Call of Duty elements into the franchise. It still targets the hardcore audience, not the casual consumer. With Battlefield 3, the first levels can be incredible frustrating for anybody who just wants to pick it up and play. With Call of Duty , their is no learning curb and it engages both audiences to perfection.

This is a major blow for EA, as this was it’s big chance to beat Call of Duty. Even if they achieve half of Call of Duty numbers, you have to imagine that this was the worst year for the Battlefield franchise. All the advertisements, all the money spent to tell people that Battlefield 3 is better than Call of Duty will be gone as soon as Modern Warfare 3 launches.

Xbox 360 Top LIVE Titles (based on UU’s)

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops

2. Modern Warfare 2

3. Battlefield 3

4. Gears of War 3

5. FIFA 12

6. Halo: Reach

7. Batman: Arkham City

8. Madden NFL 12

9. Forza Motorsport 4

10. GTA IV