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Call of Duty’s annual sales are decreasing

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Now with realistic fish emotions too. :(

If there’s one non-sporting title that stands as the marquee for annualised franchises, it’s got to be Call of Duty. For years now, people have been complaining that the whole thing is a shameless copy-and-paste job, and a blight on the gaming industry as a whole. Still, Call of Duty sells like madness ever year. It seems, however, that the wheels might finally be falling off the bus.

We’ve surmised that although Call of Duty: Ghosts sales are still enough to put it at the top of just about applicable sales chart, that actual year-on-year sales throughput is diminishing. The biggest red flag is that Activision hasn’t sent out a press release about Call of Duty being the best selling thing in the universe this year. So far, Ghosts has failed to outsell Black Ops 2 in the applicable launch period.

Activision was prepared for this, telling investors that the next-generation transition was to blame for the slower uptake of Call of Duty. Cowen analyst Doug Creutz, however, thinks that a closer look at the numbers reveal that things are a little worse for the franchise.

“Upon further reflection, we think the [Call of Duty] numbers are a bit more troubling than they first appeared,” Creutz wrote in a note to investors. “While the year-over-year gap is only 19 percent thus far, that includes two extra weeks of sales for the 360 and PS3 versions [of Black Ops II]. Against 2011?s [Modern Warfare 3], where the difference is only one week, the title is down 32 percent life-to-date.”

Call of Duty: Ghosts was released on November 5 this year, where last year’s Black Ops only hit retail on November 12, giving it a full 7 days less time, to do more sales. Creutz thinks Call of Duty’s star could be waning.

“We don’t think it is out of the question that the title could wind up comparing down 20 percent to 25 percent year-over-year [to Black Ops II], which is appreciably worse than the down 10 to 15 percent that we think is baked in to guidance.”

Guidance, here, is Activision’s own warning to investors. On a personal note, I think this year’s Call of Duty is the weakest of the lot – but I’m a single player gamer. Those who live COD multiplayer tell me that there are some great changes that make the multiplayer worth shooting through.

Last Updated: December 17, 2013

19 Comments

  1. TiMsTeR1033

    December 17, 2013 at 11:01

    ITS A MUK!!!or GRIMMER!

    Reply

    • ToshZA

      December 17, 2013 at 11:03

      No, it’s dinner. mmmm

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        December 17, 2013 at 11:04

        Exactly.

        Reply

      • TiMsTeR1033

        December 17, 2013 at 11:12

        I think I threw up when I thought about it like that…

        Reply

  2. Hammersteyn

    December 17, 2013 at 11:04

    Header looks like my lunch.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief in Vegas

      December 17, 2013 at 11:35

      Self aware?

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        December 17, 2013 at 11:39

        Not after I jab it with a fork a couple of times

        Reply

  3. Umar Bravely Default

    December 17, 2013 at 11:05

  4. Craig Boonzaier

    December 17, 2013 at 11:40

    I enjoy the multiplayer, last COD I player was MW3 though, so i dunno how much different it is, but the char creation is cool, with enough squad points in the beginning you can create ur fav setup from the get go. Plus, i setup a stabbing class, so much fun.

    Reply

  5. Skyblue

    December 17, 2013 at 11:57

    That’s odd Geoff, every one of my mates who plays COD (and thought I had an aneurysm and might be tempted) has warned me not too touch it as they feel the game is inferior to the previous titles.

    Reply

    • Marc

      December 17, 2013 at 12:37

      I agree with those sentiments. I own pretty much all of the cod’s. Ghosts went seriously backwards in my opinion…

      Reply

    • Bad @ss

      December 17, 2013 at 14:35

      Ghost is losing a lot of players. If you look online there is the same or even more players playing Black ops 2 than ghost. Not even clan wars bring the amount of players to more than Black Ops 2

      Reply

  6. oVg

    December 17, 2013 at 12:01

  7. Tarisma

    December 17, 2013 at 13:55

    Its exactly the same thing that happened with the medal of honor series! It was the bees knees then no

    Reply

  8. Robert Hart

    December 17, 2013 at 14:38

    This is what happens when you give your user-base the middle finger, year after year.

    Reply

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