Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia has claimed that Battlefield 3 has topped 1.5 million pre-orders.
The figure puts pre-orders for the hotly-anticipated military shooter 250,000 higher than those touted by Electronic Arts’ Eric Brown earlier this month.
Furthermore, Bhatia said he reckons sales of the game will eventually eclipse those of its predecessor, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which has flogged a meaty 9.5 million copies worldwide to date.
"Note that BF3 will include a map pack if the game is pre-ordered," he commented. "This $15 to $20 value should be a big incentive for customers to pre-order BF3."
Battlefield 3’s multiplayer beta will kick off next week, with the game itself due out on PlayStation 3, PC and Xbox 360 in late October.