A great number of long-time gamers are turning off of the annualised Call of Duty franchise, tired as they are of playing what they believe to be the same thing, year after year. You might imagine that the franchise as a whole is on its way to being doomed – but you’d be very wrong. According to Activision, it’s never been stronger.
“All I can tell you is that the franchise has never been stronger, “ Activision Publishing’s CEO Eric Hirshberg told IGN. “At this moment in time, we have more people playing every month, more people logging on to play every day, a better digital business with people playing longer into the cycle of each product and purchasing more DLC and purchasing micro-DLC and purchasing season passes.
“Those are all the hard measures. How is the content we’re making selling? Are people enjoying it? That seems to be going well. Then you look at the softer measures, just in terms of social media engagement and video views. Anticipation is high for Ghosts. When you’re building off such a strong foundation of engaged players, that’s usually a pretty good sign.”
That said, he also says that Ghosts will change things up, and that you won;t be playing the same thing when it releases in November this year.
“We’ve changed to a world where America is not the dominant force, but an underdog. That opened up new visual opportunities. It opened up new gameplay opportunities. We’re shaking things up. Multiplayer is going to have new ideas. Dynamic maps are something we’re doing. Character customization is something we’re doing.
“The story mode is going to be…I don’t know if you’ve seen what we [showed at E3], but it’s gorgeous. It’s emotional. It’s got a different kind of tonality and feeling to it. It all comes down to us making a great game every time out, and I’m confident that we are going to deliver something special with Ghosts.”
I was actually impressed with what I saw from Ghosts at E3 – but mostly in terms of tech. As far as the game itself goes, it’s a bit of a conundrum; they’ve put so much effort in to “next generation” tech, to make a game that largely looks and plays like…Call of Duty.
It does, however, sound like a bit of posturing, with Activision trying to assert dominance in the face of real competition, like Battlefield 4 and Respawn’s award-winning Titanfall.
Last Updated: July 4, 2013
LordCaptainAwesomeness
July 4, 2013 at 09:02
Header Win Geoff…
Scruff304
July 4, 2013 at 09:05
What has been seen, cannot be unseen…
LordCaptainAwesomeness
July 4, 2013 at 09:08
I would assume COD is the one on the Right….
Bloated, slow and pointless?
HvR
July 4, 2013 at 09:13
fake and photoshopped?
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
July 4, 2013 at 09:07
Zerg infestation detected
Mark Treloar
July 4, 2013 at 09:08
Or uglier apparently
Umar Kiiroi Senk?
July 4, 2013 at 09:11
If Call of Duty had actual ghosts and your dog served a purpose like in Haunting Grounds , then I will be excited … but………………..America
TiMsTeR1033
July 4, 2013 at 09:27
They really should make a game where you hunt the most evil shit! like supernatural but a game, and include a dog too but will prob die easily but the idea of taking on demons and ghosts and witches (the hansel and gretal kind) trolls (think troll hunter) hell flipping el chupacarbaras and even aliens! make a 3rd person game like that or even fps and ppl will buy that game faster than anything!
Trevor Davies
July 4, 2013 at 09:32
I would play that.
Umar Kiiroi Senk?
July 4, 2013 at 09:51
I’d definitely tap dat … I mean play that!
HvR
July 4, 2013 at 09:54
oooo that would be awesome, especially if it isn’t just point and shoot. Like Supernatural you first need to figure out how cap the spiritual ass and raid house churches for gear and equipment and make stuff like your own rock salt 12 gauge shells.
Trevor Davies
July 4, 2013 at 10:00
Exactly the kind of vibe Witcher 3 is aiming for, man I can’t wait.
HvR
July 4, 2013 at 10:22
Definitely looking forward to it as well, but I was thinking something in a more more modern non-apocalyptic setting Fallout mechanics meets Witcher meets CoD.
Trevor Davies
July 4, 2013 at 10:30
That would be sweet. Watch Dogs looks like the closest thing to that from the little I’ve seen.
Weanerdog
July 4, 2013 at 10:40
Make the crafting be body augmentation (Deus ex style) the more you do the stronger/better you get but also less human and consequently the harder it is to tell ghosts from real people. Are you really taking out a haunted house or just the local orphanage.
Trevor Davies
July 4, 2013 at 10:48
Those damn meddling kids! *shake fist*
Slade Boender
July 4, 2013 at 10:54
^ give this guy a bells and a dev crew!
TiMsTeR1033
July 4, 2013 at 11:54
If only they would give me a dev crew lol I have loads of ideas but sadly no cash to fund it lol
Slade Boender
July 4, 2013 at 13:57
Try hooking! 😛
Kromas
July 4, 2013 at 10:04
They recently played a old title called Rise of the Triad and turned on Dog Mode. And thus CoD ghosts was born.
Trevor Davies
July 4, 2013 at 10:08
Haha I remember that, it was awesome. That and drunk missiles.
Kromas
July 4, 2013 at 10:12
Remake is coming out soon I think.
Trevor Davies
July 4, 2013 at 10:32
I’ve seen it up for pre-order on Steam. Watched the video, just doesn’t look right to me, the excessive gore was a bit silly – especially the eyeballs stuck to your screen. Probably wait for it to hit the bargain bin.
Kromas
July 4, 2013 at 11:08
If DayZ alpha did not drop soon I most likely would buy this as well.
Mark Treloar
July 4, 2013 at 09:13
This is interesting since Steam loves to give stats on te most played games daily. So when i started playing COD it was with MW2. On Steam at its Peak +-90000 players. After the release of Black ops this value has steadily declined and currently sits with Black ops 2 at +-20000 players at its peak. How is this translate to stronger?
Alex Hicks
July 4, 2013 at 09:29
Simple – Activision doesn’t care about the gaming base that made CoD in the first place with CoD 4: MW. They display this contempt with their continued insistence on not fixing the things PC gamers crave – like ranked dedicated servers with a server browser.
Console gamers, on the other hand …
Stronger to Activision means more revenue – not more satisfaction. With the number of XBox 360 and PS3 players continuing to skyrocket, in their mind, they’re stronger.
Tarisma
July 4, 2013 at 09:16
RAWR Pew Pew
Tarisma
July 4, 2013 at 09:17
Why is Eddie Murphy there in the left?
Umar Kiiroi Senk?
July 4, 2013 at 09:20
ROFLOL!!!!!!!!!! oh man that’s soo funny, NAILED’D it
TiMsTeR1033
July 4, 2013 at 09:24
What i wanna know if that big dude is real! how the hell would he wipe his ass let alone take a crap! lol But Eddie Murphy seems to have some jobs on the side it seems
Umar Kiiroi Senk?
July 4, 2013 at 09:52
His butt muscles are so big they wipe themselves lol and man, Eddie sure has fallen hey…poor guy
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
July 4, 2013 at 09:23
Hahahaha.
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
July 4, 2013 at 09:27
And why the Jurassic Park logos? Is Eddie Murphy starring in the next one? Is it going to be a comedy?
TiMsTeR1033
July 4, 2013 at 09:28
They man dinosaurs perhaps
Trevor Davies
July 4, 2013 at 09:38
No, you’re not going to make me say something nasty about CoD. Not this time.
Ultimo_Cleric N7
July 4, 2013 at 09:39
Haters gonna hate. There is still nothing better than getting some bros together and smacking some CoD Black Ops 2 and a 6 pack.
I like the CoD franchise, yes its a bit boring since its the same thing over and over, but come on, there are SO MANY games out there that are exactly the same.
COUGH…Assassins Creed…..COUGH COUGH……..Resident Evil….COUGH….
CoD gameplay is simple and fun..theres no denying it.
Kromas
July 4, 2013 at 10:11
I suppose your right. But when I want to play simple and fun Ill play angry birds on the toilet 😛
Exalted Overlord Geoffrey Tim
July 4, 2013 at 10:31
I would rather eat a bag-full of rancid assholes than play COD online (I DID YOUR MOM!), but I enjoy the single player a fair bit; it’s good, mindless, popcorn entertainment.
silverscorpio
July 4, 2013 at 11:12
I agree, Tried it once and I hated it after an hour. Single player used to be fun.
Ultimo_Cleric N7
July 4, 2013 at 11:45
I thought it would be like this too. But I just mute everybody except for my friends. Couldnt care less about what some 13-year old Polish delinquent thinks of my mom.
Once you dull out the noise, playing against people is actually a lot of fun.
Harvey P. Cheesewinkle
July 4, 2013 at 13:13
Well Ultimo, when you finally lose your virginity, you’ll know that there are things out there that are better than a CoD brofest.
Ultimo_Cleric N7
July 4, 2013 at 13:33
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the 13- year old Polish delinquent. Well done for leaving the safety of your troll bridge and commenting on another site!
Harvey P. Cheesewinkle
July 4, 2013 at 14:28
Polish delinquent? Classy Ultimo, way to bring a country into it, for no real reason other than someone made a joke at your expense. (even though you couldn’t be further from my location)
But that’s alright, I expect nothing less from some of the folks here.
Ultimo_Cleric N7
July 4, 2013 at 14:47
Aah man, was referencing my comment above your inital one. Was a generaliazion. And lets be honest, your comment wasnt exactly in good taste either, seeing as you dont even know me.
How about we just agree to disagree on the CoD issue and leave it at that. I think the internet has enough silly fights in it.
Agreed?
Harvey P. Cheesewinkle
July 4, 2013 at 15:00
You really think CoD is better than sex? I kid I kid.
I really was only joking originally, and I don’t really consider it in poor taste. More cliche than anything else. The whole gamer virgins thing 🙂 I DO happen to know some decent Polish people though (they have an amazing hatred for Russia though, then again, I don’t live that close to Russia so maybe it’s not surprising…couldn’t really tell ya).
Either way, I was simply going for a laugh, didn’t mean to offend.
Ultimo_Cleric N7
July 4, 2013 at 15:18
Lol, CoD is NOWHERE NEAR that good! hahaa
Sorry man, I was out of line. And as for the Polish, I play some SC2 games with a really nice Polish person, Nicolas (not helping the nerd/virgin cliche at all right now hahaha)
No harm done ^^
silverscorpio
July 4, 2013 at 11:04
It is still the same just with dogs no matter what the setting is. I am tired of it. Activision move on or turn it into a space shooter with new ideas.