Analyst: Battlefield 3 will sell 8-11M, The Old Republic in December

Analyst firm Cowen & Company is predicting that Battlefield 3 will sell 8M to 11M units during its first year of release. The film is getting that estimate from pre-order sales, which have been comparable to Call of Duty: Black Ops. Black Ops has sold 20M worldwide.

Electronic Arts’s stock, however, took a slight dip after it started taking pre-orders for Star Wars: The Old Republic, indicating it would be released before the holidays. The beta has been scheduled for September. The firm now expects a launch for the anticipated MMO in December, rather than October.

”We would have expected this to be greeted as good news, since a 2012 launch appears unlikely,” stated Cowen & Company, ”But the mildly negative reaction by ERTS shares yesterday suggests investor expectations for the game are quite high.”