It should come as no surprise that this year’s edition of the annual Call of Duty franchise, Modern Warfare 3, is on pace to break its predecessor’s records. Much like Black Ops blew Modern Warfare 2’s numbers out of the water, so do we expect Modern Warfare 3 to do the same to Black Ops.

What’s more interesting to note, though, is the fact that pre-orders for Modern Warfare 3 are nearly five times that of its biggest competitor Battlefield 3. While Battlefield 3’s first week sales numbers were nothing to shake a stick at, and were bolstered by some serious pre-order sales in their own right, they pale in comparison to what analysts are projecting for Infinity Ward’s follow-up.

By the end of the year many are claiming that Modern Warfare 3 will move more than 20 million units — only a couple million units off from both MW2 and Black Ops’ numbers during their lifetime. As this holiday’s most sought after video game, it’s easy to see why these numbers are they way they are, but that doesn’t make them any less impressive.

Packing improvements to both the single and multiplayer elements of Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 3 promises to be the best iteration of the juggernaut franchise yet. Our experience with the game thus far has shown something familiar, but with enough clever tweaks (like the unique strike packages) thrown in to keep gamers coming back.

On top of that, Modern Warfare 3 (except on the PC) will be launching alongside Call of Duty Elite — a comprehensive stat-tracking, community-based service that will reward players for simply using it.

The game launches tomorrow, so expect more news on the sure-to-be-record-breaking numbers as well as Game Rant’s review of Modern Warfare 3 in the coming days.

Have you pre-ordered a copy of Modern Warfare 3? Do you think that this iteration will continue the series’ upward sales trend, or be the first downward tick?

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 releases November 8, 2011 for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC

Source: GameSpot