Home Gaming Is Call of Duty’s sales decline set to continue?

Is Call of Duty’s sales decline set to continue?

2 min read
48

Falling

Last year’s Call of Duty, Ghosts, was the stalest game in the franchise since the rushed-to-market Call of Duty 3. The game scored lower than all previous games, with the general consensus that it wasn’t close to the previous ones in terms of quality, originality or fun. Call of Duty Advanced Warfare seems to be righting many of those wrongs. Which is a pity, because Ghosts’ middling scores may count against it.

Many perpetual Call of Duty fans feel slighted – and even betrayed – by the last one – so much so that they won’t be buying this year’s version of the annualised shooter at launch. In fact, some analysts  – like Research firm Sterne Agee’s Arvind Bhatia  – think Advanced Warfare is going to struggle to hit the same market success as Call of Duty: Ghosts.

He predicts the series will see a sobering 15% decline – resulting in three million fewer copies of the game in homes come November. The reasons for this extend beyond Ghosts’ less-than-awesome review scores. According to Bhatia sales of software on the older consoles; the PS3 and Xbox 360 are down 50% and 46% respectively.

Those people who would be buying Advanced Warfare and have yet to upgrade to new consoles will wait it out, delaying their Call of Duty purchase. In the end though, it still means an expected 17 million copies of Call of Duty sold in the last quarter of this year,  which should be enough to keep even Bobby Kotick happy.

That said, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’s sales may actually benefit from the fact that there’s little competition in the modern combat arena this year. Battlefield Hardline has been delayed to next year, leaving Far Cry 4 as the only other major shooter to be released in the same period.

Tell us. Has Ghosts’ tepid acclaim left you reconsidering another Call of Duty purchase, or do the changes made for this new one actually reinvigorate your interest?

I’m actually quite intrigued. I loved Sledgehammer founder Michal Condrey and Glen Schofield’s work on Dead Space, and I think they could really bring something fresh to the game’s single player. That, and the inclusion of a digital Kevin Spacey make me far more receptive to it than say, Modern Warfare 4 or another Black Ops.

Last Updated: September 30, 2014

48 Comments

  1. Admiral Chief 0

    September 30, 2014 at 13:32

    Bwhahahahahaha dat header!

    *goes to read actual article

    Reply

  2. Alex Hicks

    September 30, 2014 at 13:33

    More receptive to this than MW4 or BO3; but still not gonna buy it. my desire for CoD is UNDER MINUS NINE THOUSAND!

    Reply

  3. Admiral Chief 0

    September 30, 2014 at 13:34

    Call of Duty: Titan Ops

    Reply

  4. oVg Definitive and Remastered

    September 30, 2014 at 13:34

    “Ghosts, was the stalest game in the franchise since the rushed-to-market Call of Duty 3”

    Explaines why it was the footer of the Bone reveal.

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      September 30, 2014 at 13:38

      Never gets old, unless you bought the XBOX One

      Reply

      • oVg Definitive and Remastered

        September 30, 2014 at 13:39

        That reveal that everybody stayed up so late to watch on live stream was the biggest let down and anti climax in gaming history. I remember how jaded this site was the next day.
        WHAT A FAIL.

        Reply

    • Admiral Chief 0

      September 30, 2014 at 13:44

      Sounds like a rap song

      Reply

    • Galbedir

      September 30, 2014 at 14:04

      After awhile I just hear Call of Doody….*Chuckle*

      Reply

    • MakeItLegal

      September 30, 2014 at 14:30

      this is so funny omg

      Reply

  5. Hammersteyn

    September 30, 2014 at 13:39

    COD : Already Whining

    Reply

  6. oVg Definitive and Remastered

    September 30, 2014 at 13:40

    It still has a better frame rate than Destiny.

    Reply

  7. ReaperOfSquirrels

    September 30, 2014 at 13:42

    I’ve never been much of a CoD fan, so this doesn’t affect me. I haven’t played the games since MW2 (I think it was). So.. uhhhh… hmmmm… *shrug*.

    Reply

  8. Hammersteyn

    September 30, 2014 at 13:44

    COD has never gone far enough back in time in my opinion. Hows about COD : American Revolution?

    Reply

    • Mossel

      September 30, 2014 at 13:57

      Personally I’d like a proper American Civil War game!

      Reply

      • Matthew Holliday

        September 30, 2014 at 14:12

        2 minute reload times between shots could be problematic.
        that war places too little emphasis on individuals to make for an entertaining and realistic shooter, assassins creed is really the only kind of game that would work in that setting.

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          September 30, 2014 at 14:15

          Knifing would pick up nicely

          Reply

          • Matthew Holliday

            September 30, 2014 at 16:04

            call of duty: knights of valour.
            battle axes, horses and lances, sword and shield.

            Ive been dying for a AAA version of Chivalry: Medieval Warfare

        • Sageville

          September 30, 2014 at 14:20

          I reckon 1 small squad of todays reccies could have won the whole american civil war given enough time and ammo.

          That whole “stand in a line and trade shots like honorable soldiers” was sooo looking to be shown up with some simple guerilla tactics.

          Reply

          • Mossel

            September 30, 2014 at 15:08

            Turn-based combat before it was cool.

          • Matthew Holliday

            September 30, 2014 at 16:02

            easilly, guns in those days couldnt hit a target at 10m.
            and even then, they only hit people people they were standing in a line, so they HAD to hit something.

            modern day soldiers with a standard loadout (not including snipers, grenade launchers or LMGs etc) can hit targets at 100m and are trained professionals.

            i dont imagine that a war against farmers and the like would be much of a challenge.

      • JJ the Reus

        September 30, 2014 at 14:19

        Anglo-Boer war ;P

        Reply

    • HvR

      September 30, 2014 at 14:20

      • Hammersteyn

        September 30, 2014 at 14:42

        hahahaha

        Reply

  9. Galbedir

    September 30, 2014 at 13:49

    Seeing as Titanfall isnt for sale here in SA, and from what I’ve seen from Trailers…This MIGHT be the first CoD I buy. It actually looks pretty neat. I’d rather drag my nuts through a field of glass then Pre order a COD ever though.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief 0

      September 30, 2014 at 13:52

      “drag….nuts….field of glass….”
      eina moer!

      Reply

  10. ReaperOfSquirrels

    September 30, 2014 at 13:58

    I’ll just leave this here for Darryn and Umar…

    http://img-9gag-lol.9cache.com/photo/aVQ3vYw_700b.jpg

    Reply

    • oVg Definitive and Remastered

      September 30, 2014 at 14:02

      release those pocket monsters.

      Reply

      • Matthew Holliday

        September 30, 2014 at 14:06

        pocket your monster.

        Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      September 30, 2014 at 14:03

      pokemondoms

      Reply

      • oVg Definitive and Remastered

        September 30, 2014 at 15:12

        bless you

        Reply

    • Ottokie

      September 30, 2014 at 14:21

      So now you don’t wanna “catch em all!”

      Reply

  11. Matthew Holliday

    September 30, 2014 at 13:58

    i tried getting into ghosts again recently, then i randomly got a patch that other people got 6 months ago, that made it so that I cant find any matches. at all.
    according to everyone else on the internet who tried contacting support, the only way to fix it is to enable family sharing, disabling all the DLC and creating a new steam account to use.

    Ghosts was barely playable on launch day, even with a 1.5gb day 1 patch.
    and a mystery patch released by IW to “streamline matchmaking” which actually breaks the matchmaking. with no patch released whatsoever to fix the fault.

    Call of Duties DLC broke their matchmaking system.
    If you buy a DLC gun, you are put into a different matchmaking queue, if you buy another gun, you are put into another queue. effectively, everyone with a single file of DLC has been put into separate matchmaking queues. how does that make sense?

    CoD was breaking records without changing all that much with their games, then suddenly MW3 comes out, hackers ruin public play, Ghosts comes out with a new engine, fancy fish AI a butt tonne of DLC and ends up totally broken.

    I am done with CoD.
    probably also done with battlefield.

    Reply

    • oVg Definitive and Remastered

      September 30, 2014 at 14:01

      welcome to new age gaming 😛

      Reply

      • Matthew Holliday

        September 30, 2014 at 14:08

        i think ghosts is in a league of its own, the amount of BS surrounding that game is absurd.
        i consider releasing a patch that breaks matchmaking to the point where you cant find a game, worse than battlefields “broken” gameplay.

        although im not sure i can decide if i hate it more than paying R600 for BF4 premium
        when important DLC and guns ends up being more expensive than the entire vanilla game, theres a problem.

        Reply

    • Johan du Preez

      September 30, 2014 at 14:52

      BTW its the same engine they are still using the ID Tech engine. If you are wondering its the Quake 3 engine of 1998.

      Source link below:

      Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is built upon the engine used in older Call of Duty games.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IW_engine

      Reply

      • Matthew Holliday

        September 30, 2014 at 15:49

        soz, i remember the hype train mentioning something about a new engine.
        might ahve been the lighting or something else.
        either way, the game feels different, shooting mechanics etc.

        probably heard the hype train and attributed all that to the misunderstood engine change.

        Reply

    • RedRover

      September 30, 2014 at 16:48

      Thanks for saving me the time of typing an essay. Yours sums up my sentiment perfectly. I am done with COD.

      Reply

  12. Michelle

    September 30, 2014 at 14:00

    I pre-ordered my copy last week.

    Reply

  13. Sageville

    September 30, 2014 at 14:14

    I started losing COD love after MW3 and moved completely to Battlefield.

    However now that COD has introduced more verticality and is more futuristic, I’m going to give this one a good solid try.

    Maybe it re-awakens that long lost COD lurve.

    Reply

  14. Admiral Chief 0

    September 30, 2014 at 14:25

    I can’t stop laughing at that bear!

    Y U DO DIS?

    Reply

  15. Admiral Chief 0

    September 30, 2014 at 14:28

  16. MakeItLegal

    September 30, 2014 at 14:31

    well…that sucks for them

    Reply

  17. RinceThis

    September 30, 2014 at 14:34

    Yeah. Well all those people who loved the game are a bit older now, perhaps a little more mature. That, or they’ve hit 18 and can now be tried as adults thus the pool of players is dwindling.

    Reply

    • oVg Definitive and Remastered

      September 30, 2014 at 15:15

      COD still blew my mind in 2007. I will always remember sniping in chernobyl.

      I will always remember THE KICK ASS MUSIC by Hans Zimmer in MW2…

      Then it all went to shit after that, Even the Audio in MW3 sounded like a compressed tin can.

      Reply

  18. Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

    September 30, 2014 at 16:34

    One can only hope! Sigh! Every year, I dream of a year without Call of Ballsack stinking up the yearly game sale rankings! Maybe 2014 will be that year? Sigh…!

    Reply

  19. Harry Beneke

    September 30, 2014 at 21:38

    I will as long as I live never ever buy another Call Of Duty game. It gets worse every year!!!!!!!!

    Reply

  20. Majik

    October 1, 2014 at 15:45

    I really enjoyed all the COD games up until MW2, after that they really started to suck! Will not be getting any of the future COD games.

    Reply

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