Battlefield 3 preorders 24x more than Battlefield 2 - Amazon UK

Last month, Electronic Arts said that preorders for Battlefield 3 were tracking 10 times higher than those of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 at a similar point before release. Today, the UK arm of online retailer Amazon released preorder comparisons of its own, indicating that the multiplatform Battlefield 3 is outpacing its true predecessor, the 2005 PC first-person shooter Battlefield 2, by an even larger number. At a similar point before its release date, Battlefield 3 preorders at the retailer have increased 2,302 percent over those of Battlefield 2.

While that's good news for EA's accountants, Amazon paints a less concrete picture of its chances to topple the latest installment in Activision's reigning first-person shooter series (and explicit target of Battlefield 3), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. As of press time, the retailer's best-selling preorder page lists the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 editions of Modern Warfare 3 as the first- and third-most preordered titles, respectively. The PC and Xbox 360 editions of Battlefield 3 are in second and fourth place, with the PS3 version trailing in ninth. The PC version of Modern Warfare 3 ranked 29th on the Amazon preorder chart.

As for how Modern Warfare 3 is doing compared to last year's Black Ops, Amazon said preorders for the upcoming game are up 321 percent over Treyarch's 2010 effort. That bodes well for Modern Warfare 3, as Black Ops proved to be the best-selling game in the history of the Amazon UK site.

The retailer also weighed in on a handful of other anticipated sequels' reservation rates, with Uncharted 3 receiving the biggest bump over its past iteration. Drake's Deception preorders are currently up 488 percent over those for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Other games receiving a marked bump over their predecessors include Batman: Arkham City (up 349 percent), FIFA 12 (up 325 percent), and Gears of War 3 (up 216 percent).