Despite all the information tidbits spilling out from EA and DICE on BF3, there’s still no official release date for the game. EA CEO John Riccitiello has previously commented that Battlefield 3 will take on the next Call of Duty game in 2011 — an indication when we can expect BF3.

In an interview with Industry Gamers, Riccitiello once again stressed the year 2011 as a release time frame for BF3.

“…you’ll see a lot about Battlefield 3 next year, which I think is, at least from our perspective, designed to be the one that is the big leap forward; the one that is going to help a lot.

He commented specifically on Activision and the competition in the first person shooter arena.

“Next year we’ll make a lot more progress. We’ve got a couple of third-party games in the form of Crysis 2 and Bulletstorm, and then our big focus is Battlefield 3 in the second half of the year. I’d be shocked if we didn’t take a notch out of [Activision].”

Unless there’s a delay, we can be pretty sure to see BF3 next Holiday season, as DICE is known for shipping titles on time. Read the full interview with Riccitiello here, where he goes in depth in his criticism of Activision.