EA Says Thanks to Battlefield Players This Weekend

Probably in an attempt to cut into Activision’s Modern Warfare3 game time, EA has announced a sweepstakes for anyone that plays Battlefield 3 this weekend online.

From the press release:

Get ready to level up, soldier! Today DICE, an Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) studio announced that it is thanking fans for their passion and loyalty by hosting a Battlefield 3™ “Says Thanks” Sweepstakes weekend where gamers who play from Friday, November 11th at 12:01am GMT through Sunday, November 13th at 11:59pm GMT will have a chance to win one of three amazing prizes. The Grand Prize is a round-trip visit to DICE in Stockholm, Sweden for one player and three of their squadmates for three nights. Included in the visit is a tour of the state-of-the-art studio and an introduction to the development team behind the award-winning game. The second prize is $5,000 USD in cash, or equivalent local currency, with the third place winner taking home a brand new game system with the full catalogue of corresponding Battlefield games. Complete sweepstakes rules can be found at www.battlefield.com/saysthanks.

I can’t help but think this is a desperate grab as Activision reports it’s and the industry’s largest one-day shipment in history. 1.5 million people lined up to get MW3 at midnight on Tuesday and who knows what their 30 day sales are going to look like.