Michael Pachter's Pulled Out His Crystal Ball To Predict The Sales Of This Year's Biggest First-Person Shooters.

Chatting with Forbes, Pachter predicted that Modern Warfare 3 will sell about 16 million units during the fourth quarter of 2011, with Battlefield scooping up a respectable 8 million.

Between them, Pachter believes the modern military shooters will scoop up about $1.4 billion in revenue before the year's out. Pachter added that he believes both Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 will sell a further eight and three million units respectively throughout next year. Big numbers all around, then.

"I'd guess that around half of the console copies of Battlefield 3 will be bought by people who also buy Modern Warfare 3, so around two to three million will buy both," Pachter predicted. "I don't see much cannibalization of the titles."

Battlefield 3's out this week, while Modern Warfare 3 follows next month.