EA: "Our teams are killing themselves" to beat Call of Duty

EA Games Label executive vice president Patrick Soderlund has told MCV that the company is not giving up the fight against Activision's Call of Duty. Both titles are launching within a week of each other this year, bringing EA's annual battle against Activision even closer.

"Competition is good," said Soderlund. "It brings the best out of people. If there was only Battlefield or only Call of Duty, then the development teams might have been a little bit more content. We don't look at them necessarily and mimic what they do."

"But we think about them. Maybe they weren't thinking about us much when we made Battlefield 3, but I can tell you, they are thinking about us now. They need too. We made a dent in the FPS market and we took share from them. And I am not going to give up until I'm number one and I am going to make sure I'm number one.

"We are spending a ton of money on this, our teams are killing themselves every year to make great games," he added. "I want to give our consumers the best I can. We will strive to be number one. If I said, 'number five is probably fine,' it's hard for people to rally behind that message. But I wouldn't say we could be number one if I didn't think we could. I think I have the right team, the right product and the right strategy to get there."

This year, Battlefield 4 comes out on October 29 on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, while Call of Duty: Ghosts comes out on November 5 for PlayStation 3, Wii U, PC, and Xbox 360. Battlefield 4 is launching on PS4 on November 12 in North America and November 29 in Europe, with the Xbox One version coming on November 19 in North America and November 22 in Europe. Call of Duty: Ghosts for PS4 is coming on November 15 in North America and November 29 in Europe; Ghosts for Xbox One follows on November 22.