DICE are feeling “very optimistic” about Battlefield 4. They said so last night during an earnings call with investors. It’s worth remembering that – as when I call my mum – the studio is relaying the best possible version of events to their money men. But it’s also exciting to hear them claim that what they’ve got in the bag is at least capable of matching Battlefield 3’s runaway success.

Oo, yes please, DICE. Say some of them positive words again.

“We’re very optimistic based on what we saw coming out of E3,” chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen began. “The excitement that was on the floor, the excitement around our press conference, the fact that we had 64 players playing virtually nonstop every hour the booth was open, was a very big positive – not to mention all of the nominations we got for awards.

“All of that continues to help us signal that we should be able to do what we did for Battlefield 3 in the year which it shipped, our fiscal ’12,” he continued, though he refused to speculate on whether the sequel would sell more or less than its predecessor.

EA Labels president Frank Gibeau picked up where Jorgensen giddily left off: “We have a lot of innovation happening in the multiplayer game and new online features. But in addition to that, the single player experience has got even more epic than in Battlefield 3. So we feel like it’s a generation ahead of Battlefield 3. We believe that we will exceed expectations, and it’s very exciting around here right now in terms of the teamwork that we’re putting against Battlefield 4.”

(Make of that last clause what you will, so long as it’s not sense.)

“As I mentioned earlier, our pre-orders are stacking up well versus Battlefield 3,” added EA COO Peter Moore, running to make the metaphorical home dunk or slam run of sales projections.

“We came off a very strong E3. As I travel the world and speak to retailers, there is incredible optimism and anticipation for this title. And Frank and his team and, in particular, the DICE team has done brilliantly coming out of E3.”

All around the world, incredible optimism. What about your corner of this Earth, though? What sort of vibe would Moore encounter if he visited you there to talk Battlefield 4?

Thanks very much, OXM.