Battlefield 3 Digital Pre-loads A First For Best Buy

Retailer Best Buy announced today that it is offering digital pre-orders of games for the first time, with consumers able to pre-load the upcoming Battlefield 3 by purchasing the game from the retailer online. Starting today, anyone who pre-orders the shooter digitally through the Best Buy website will be able to download the game immediately. The game requires installation of EA's Origin download service. At midnight on release day (October 25), Best Buy will then provide users will a code to unlock the downloaded game instantly. This digital move from Best Buy follows the news that the company's revenues were flat year-over-year for the second quarter of the current fiscal year, with sales declines in the gaming segment helping to offset growth in mobile computing and other areas. Developer DICE revealed earlier this week that Battlefield 3 has now seen over 2 million pre-orders in total. Patrick Liu, producer on the upcoming title, told Gamasutra recently that it felt good to be compared to Call of Duty. "They’re behemoths, and just the notion that we would be able to take a chunk from their gamers is awesome," he said.