Infinity Ward may be reigning on top of both US and UK sales charts with the cross-generational first person shooter Call of Duty: Ghosts, but it’s already been established that the game had a weaker launch than Black Ops 2. In fact, the declining sales of the franchise with each year has been an issue for a while now.
Speaking in an investor note, Cowen analyst Doug Creutz believes that the sales might be worth more concern than what Activision is telling. “Upon further reflection, we think the [Call of Duty] numbers are a bit more troubling than they first appeared. 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.”
While the release of the Xbox One and PS4 did help bolster sales for Ghosts, they don’t have the install base of the Xbox 360 and PS3. The amount of sales just isn’t enough to cover for losses.
“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.”
As always, it’s worth one’s while to wait and watch to see how things pan out. Hopefully when the fall comes, it won’t be as abrupt. Let us know what you think about the same below.
