By now it should be no surprise to gamers that Modern Warfare 3 was the biggest title of this Fall season, far outselling its biggest competitor Battlefield 3. Taking in huge numbers both before release, and during its first 24 hours, the latest entry in the Call of Duty franchise continued the series’ dominance.

But what gamers might not know is just how much gamers stuck with Call of Duty, even with a worthy competitor in Battlefield 3 to sway their gameplay time. According to Major Nelson’s Xbox Live activity numbers, Battlefield 3 has been beat out each week it’s been available by first Black Ops and even Modern Warfare 2, and then Modern Warfare 3.

Black Ops, a now one-year-old game, was still generating a stronger player population than Battlefield 3, which was brand spanking new — but only on the Xbox 360. Here’s a look at the Xbox Live activity numbers for Battlefield 3’s launch week, and then this past week:

LIVE Activity for week of October 24th

Xbox 360 Top LIVE Titles (based on UU’s)

It’s obviously worth mentioning that Battlefield 3, and previous entries in the franchise, have largely been considered more PC-focused affairs, but there’s still something pretty surprising about these numbers. Clearly the amount of enthusiasm for Call of Duty, combined with the experience of the familiar, kept gamers coming back to Black Ops and then enticed them into Modern Warfare 3 without much consideration for using Battlefield 3 as a change of pace.

Add on top of that the newly introduced Prestige Shop, which rewarded players who had previously prestiged in any Call of Duty game to earn one point to be spent on a wide variety of bonuses from an extra custom class to double XP, and you’ve got a recipe to keep gamers in the Call of Duty online space rather than in Battlefield 3.

That isn’t to say Battlefield 3’s multiplayer is sub-par, it’s actually the best part of the whole game, but fans will stick to what they like, and Call of Duty, based on its sales numbers, definitely has more fans.

Are there any gamers out there who were still plugging away at Black Ops multiplayer instead of giving Battlefield 3’s a go? Do you think the Xbox Live games space isn’t the best place for an accurate picture of Battlefield 3’s user base?

Battlefield 3 is out now for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

Source: Major Nelson