According to EA CEO John Riccitiello, who spoke with Kotaku, Battlefield 3 is EA’s main competitor against the next installment of Call of Duty, which is set for release in Fall 2011. Riccitiello said:

“I have great expectations to do a lot better in 2011 than in 2010 on the strength of a couple of products like Bulletstorm and Crysis 2, but most importantly for us, Battlefield 3, which I feel incredibly good about.”

He also commented on the engine which will power Battlefield 3, saying that Forstbite, with its destructible environments will be far ahead of Call of Duty, which usually has static environments and a very linear gameplay.

“Our next game [Battlefield 3] is being built on the second generation of Frostbite which I think is, at least in my opinion, a class act for FPS. I think we’re going to lift the game pretty dramatically in the first-person shooter category.”

This year, Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Medal of Honor went against Call of Duty Black Ops, even though Bad Company 2 was released six months earlier. This means that it’s almost certain that we’ll see Battlefield 3 in 2011, most likely during the hectic Fall 2011 release window.