Hard as it is to believe when it’s all said and done, Activision will be releasing not one but two of the biggest first person shooters of 2014 within three months – Bungie’s Destiny (releasing on September 9th) and Sledgehammer Games’ Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (releasing on November 4th). It was assumed at one point that Destiny would release in 2015 lest it eat into the sales of Call of Duty but Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg believes there’s room for both.
During a recent earnings call, Hirshberg replied to an analyst who wondered if the industry could support several major game releases that demand so much time. “We think that there’s room for more than one blockbuster hit and we’re just intent on having two of them.
“On how many games the industry can support, and particularly the first-person action genre, I think, we’ve seen in the past that the first-person action genre in particular is broadly appealing enough to accommodate more than one blockbuster hit. There have been other good performing players in that genre and that hasn’t ever kept Call of Duty from delivering incredible results.”
Also, despite both games being shooters, they are fairly distinct from each other. “”We do think that the games are very different from one another. Call of Duty, as you know, is a gritty, authentic military shooter, and Destiny is a far future sci-fi action-adventure game with lot of RPG characteristics.
“So in fact, when you look at the people who participated in the Destiny beta, we actually think Destiny has the capability to appeal not only to the first-person action fan, but also to bring new fans into our portfolio since the game also appeals to fans of RPG and action-adventure games. So net-net, the answer is that we believe industry can and will support both, and I think, history has shown that whenever publishers have shown up with breakthrough great content with great experiences for fans, that those have tended to find a market.”
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