Battlefield 4 vs Call of Duty: Ghosts - Riccitiello "pretty confident that EA's got better cards"

John Riccitiello, former CEO at EA, feels this may be the year Battlefield finally tops the Activision juggernaut, Call of Duty.

Speaking in an interview with GI International, Riccitiello said the continues success of the Call of Duty franchise, and Activision in general will boil down to two different scenarios.

"What's been fascinating watching Activision over the last few years is that I've heard that mentioned before, about them not being the company they could or should be. They've pulled off some notable successes," he said. "The one thing I know most about now is Battlefield and CoD and I feel pretty confident that EA's got better cards.

"But the last billion dollar brand created from scratch in this industry was Skylanders. Is the next billion dollar brand going to come from Activision? I don't know. But if it does then they can sustain the loss of leadership in the field of shooters.

"There's one scenario where they ship a new MMO, it replaces WoW, Call of Duty stays at the top of the charts, Skylanders goes from strength to strength. They do a couple of things with their licenses, everything goes fine.

"Then there's a scenario where WoW continues to decline, Battlefield takes the mantle from CoD, Skylanders proves to be a flash in the pan and Activision proves to be a shitty company at that point."

Battlefield 4 will be available October 29 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 and will also be made available for PS4 and Xbox One once the consoles launch.

Call of Duty: Ghosts releases worldwide on November 5 for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 with PS4 and Xbox One versions landing alongside the consoles.