Television deals, real-world promotional activities, and various online advertisements are just a few ways that EA and BioWare are promoting the upcoming release of Mass Effect 3 – and it seems to have paid off. With the game set to launch in only nine days, EA product manager Will Graham has stated that pre-orders for Mass Effect 3 have already exceeded original expectations, and are currently “well ahead” of the previous game in the series, Mass Effect 2.

Of course, Mass Effect 3 pre-orders surpassing that of Mass Effect 2 is no surprise considering the fact that the game will be available simultaneously on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 for the first time in the history of the series.

Despite somewhat controversial business practices, Mass Effect 3 is unsurprisingly shaping up to be a major release for EA and BioWare.

Mass Effect 3 pre-orders smash targets [MCV]