12-gauge: can Modern Warfare 4 save CoD from decline?

VG247: Modern Warfare 3 didn’t progress Activision’s beloved action format and we’re seeing clear signs of a peak. The Call of Duty dial’s been stuck at 11 for years: is this just the publisher’s latest strip-mine victim?

[Thrungus]

A break from first person shooters would always be a nice touch.

[LoudHawk]

Yeah, I want the Call Of Duty platformer, or even Kart Racing game. Actually, Kart Racing as Captain Price would be AWESOME!

[decrypt]

Lol how does Cod need saving? Mw3 sold very well.

As long as console gamers cant get enough of the same game every year lolvision has nothing to worry about.

The devs at lolvision know all they need to do is mod the last game with new skins and new maps lol. its the same as when a game gets modded on the pc for free by the community. As long as the kida cant understand this nothing is changing.

[ChrisGTR1]

mw4 is exactly whats killing cod.

[StraightPath]

looks at MW3 sales, looks at title " save cod from decline " laughs at the stupidity.

the cod franchise needs a overhaul but doesnt need saving. the next cod better not be running on SAME engine. what is the most played online games are the cod games...people are deluded. the games are really familiar so if new physics new graphics new everything would be great.

[Bobby Kotex]

Exactly. As long as idiots/casual gamers exist CoD will always be popular.

[CarlosX360]

A new engine is necessary.

[glennco]

a new engine is well overdue.
BF has evolved since BF2 with every release adding something new to the engine and gameplay. but then again, i was the only person in the world that preferred BC1 to CoD4 both SP and MP. CoD has stalled but don't forget it is activision. they have not got where they are by wasting money. guitar hero, tony hawk, CoD etc etc are all for milking and never considered to be that different from the previous. EA has their sports titles for this

[BuffMordecai]

Modern Warfare 4? They already screwed up 3, I wouldn't trust sledgehammer/infinity ward with anything.

[TekoIie]

I severely doupt that as a standalone game MW3 screwed up...

[Anon1974]

Yeah, I've got to agree with you there. I thought MW3 was the best single player experience of the series and I loved how they wrapped it all up. All 3 MW games had excellent, albeit brief single player campaigns. Glitches and bugs and the players who just can't stop abusing them ruined MW2's online for me, but I've had a good time with MW3 online despite the fact that I suck.

I've got to agree with posters above. As far as I can tell in gameplay and sales, the Call of Duty franchise is as strong as it's ever been. Black Ops was a disappointment all around for me and I'll probably skip Black Ops 2, but I'm far from done with this series.

[Afirmitive]

Well it most likely will be on next gen Consoles and it may just be one of the first FPS games at the time, so I think it will sell even better than MW3, as much as I hate to say that.

[Oschino1907]

If it was only on next gen console and one of the first big FPS games out for it I don't see how it could even be possible to sell more. Even being very very generous and saying 1 in 4 people buying a next gen console would buy a MW4 would mean next gen consoles would have to sell upwards of 100 million units within a year. Both systems look as if they won't be released during same year let alone in a price range that would garner such an extreme number of sales so quickly.

[Rainstorm81]

Ive moved on from CoD, MW3 couldnt save it and neither can next gen... I think Activision is going to rest on its laurels with CoD, Im sure they wont change the engine until at least 2 CoD into next generation kinda like this gen (CoD2, CoD3, CoD4:MW new engine) and if they still sell tens of millions they may just keep it the same.

Bottom line there are other games that devs put more quality and care into their product, the CoD fad is over for me

[WeskerChildReborned]

End Modern Warfare already. Just end IW cause the original people left hell even Robert Bowling so just let Treyarch make the COD games cause i've had more fun with Black Ops than i did with MW3. Just my opinion. Or have some new developer that could innovate the franchise.

[Rainstorm81]

People tend to hate on Treyarch but Black Ops had much more variety than MW3....from Gun Game in Wager mode to Zombies, even had the mini game Dead Ops and pretty much every mode from MW3 was all in one game.

Black Ops and CoD4:MW are my favorite CoD this gen

[WeskerChildReborned]

Agreed. I thought i hated Black Ops but when i started playing MW3, It made me miss Black Ops lol. Their's just nothing innovative about it really except for small things. It just felt like MW2 but with less enjoyable maps.

[CanadianTurtle]

I think MW3's multiplayer is just ruined. Activision gave the development rights to sledgehammer to develop the online portion of the game. Now why in hell would any company give their flagship franchise to a new-named company?

The online is a mess. Sure MW2 had its problems, but it was still playable to a point and you could still enjoy it.

[BattleTorn]

Wow. Wow. Did I miss the memo regarding everyone now defending/liking Call of Duty?

What happened to demanding a higher standard for the industries' largest, highest grossing, franchise?

Has everyone forgot that they won't add dedicated servers, haven't made had a engine improvement in almost as long as this entire generation, hadn't changes the reload/aim animations, and guns look and sound the same as the last game?

Does anyone remember when they had vehicles in World at War - that was innovation, then they went back on it cause they wanted to stick to strictly "arcade."

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Well at this rate all Activision needs to do is take a step back and let EA continue to ruin BF3 and they will be fine for their next installment. Private server renting has really ruined BF3 on 360 to this point. Not sure how its affected other platforms so it could just be a 36o thing...but given how things are progressing COD's biggest challenger on 360 seems to be set on ruining their own game so COD may get a break there.

[BattleTorn]

What are you talking about?

I'm loving the 'rent a server' update.

I have to admit, it definitely screwed with the "quick match" cause you get put into empty servers a lot (I presume this is a short-term issue)

But you should try browsing the servers more often, and start saving your favorites. I know have an awesome favorites' list of all the servers that only play the maps I want, the modes I want, and usually with 400% tickets so the game last longer (like I want)

This updates allows you to customize your match-preference so you can play only what you want.
It's GREAT!

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Hey Battle Torn, no I do get what you are saying... its a great update for the hardcore BF3 player who has a clan or plays heavily with a core group. I tend not to play BF3 that often...1 or 2 times in a week these days. Quick match definitely is broken... getting stuck in empty servers sucks. Also, as a more casual player getting into a game with 400% more tickets is not what I want. I don't have hours to devote to BF3 so games like that just don't interest me and those kinds of servers seem to be the norm now. I rarely find Dice servers that are populated and the rented servers have like you said...and increased ticket count which makes playing to a final outcome almost impossible for my situation. I am sure this is working for many but for me, BF3 is decidely less fun now given the pains I have to go through just to find a game I can play and finish to get my XP.

I suppose I just need to do more digging around and marking more servers as favorites for those that play more normal matches...but to me it shouldn't have to be that way.

[Fil101]

2 B honest bf3 pretty much sux on ps3 aswell and has done since the B2K dlc, BF3 looks amazing but sadly thats it bfbc2 runs smoother i've jumped bk onto MW3.

[ACBAA]

mw3 is decent. some of you are over reacting

[Hicken]

Decent is right. It should get decent sales, too. It's getting outstanding sales, though. And it's getting those sales on mediocre effort from the developers.

[razielsonofkain]

2013.... can Modern Warfare 5 save call of duty from decline

[SuperStrokey1123]

Save them from selling millions of copies? I doubt they want to save it then...

[GraveLord]

Decline? MW3 broke yet another record last year, and it already surpassed Black Ops in sales. LOL wow COD haters are so blind.

[madjedi]

Sales has nothing to do with quality, look up the sales of okami, best ps2 game of the entire gen to me.

This is why this generation of gamers suck, sales it seems is the most important aspect of a game to them, but it could just be the fanatics.

[Tonester925]

COD = Madden

Same thing every year but people throw their money at them. Personally I don't care what people are playing. If my friends won't buy my game of choice then I'll find people online that I play with. Like on BF3

[TronEOL]

Well I'm hoping Activision will be releasing Infinity Ward's next game as a launch title for PS4/Xbox3rd. It only makes sense given the rumors about dev kits being sent out to key devs.

And I'm guessing Sony will be prioritizing Activision with the PS4 since they did the same for the PSVita (and Acti/MS's deal wears off around spring 2013 too I believe).

I'm also hoping they'll be putting that money they earned towards building a new engine that will truly feel next-gen, following it up with more to the gameplay.

If they do this, it'll revitalize Call of Duty. If not, it'll continue to fade away.

[mayberry]

do we really need another gen? I'd like to see more shooters come close to what killzone 2/3 are doing, with their own style, then after a few of those games we'll talk!

[TheGOODKyle]

Is this really a story? Wow...

[GameGuy]

Hell to the naw. This game isn't coming out until 2 more years. The apocalypse might just happen and activision's headquarters could get burned down in that time span.

[Kobe_Jnr]

I would like if they went back to world war II.

[kasasensei]

cod's decline? lol
25M for MW3. Biggest. number. ever for a cod.

[spektical]

maybe after mw3 the sales start to slow down? but i doubt it really. The casual fans continue to flock to the same game with different wrappers. I wouldnt complain if we saw improved physics engine ala FB1.0 to FB2.0 for example. They have the money, not sure about the talent, but with the billions of dollars they've made of the COD franchise they should be able to get the talent.

[madjedi]

It's already far far below many other tps and fps shooters, in every important category, despite being the best selling shooter there is.

Screw saving it, tear the bastard down and rebuild it from the ground up, with a brand new engine, but it's not happening. Activison will continue to sell the mindless sheeps the same unbalanced, subpar online experience sporting 2007 visuals till the ps4/720 are launched.

Many jrpgs and even the dynasty warriors games have switched to newer better engines, despite being a very niche market. But the multi billion dollar franchise call of duty can't be bothered to give the series a new engine.

P.T. Barnum said it best, a fool and his money are soon parted.

[NIRVANArazor]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh_tJa upUk0&feature=autoplay& list=UU_fGtUvYTzYWXVQUwGXleDg&a mp;lf=plcp&playnext=1

[sly-Famous]

Quantity, yes
Quality, no

[StrappedBeaner]

all i hear is blah blah blah if you dont like call of duty then dont play it or buy it or atleast wait till gamestop is selling it for $3.99 that way you wont need to wipe your tears away