Activision wants to reclaim Grand Theft Auto V's sales records

Last month Grand Theft Auto V smashed Call of Duty’s record for the biggest video game launch ever. And now Activision wants that record back.

In an interview with MCV, the firm dismissed the idea that Call of Duty is a brand in decline. The publisher revealed that last year’s Black Ops II has now surpassed 3m units sold in the UK, and has big expectations for this year’s Call of Duty: Ghosts, which launches on November 5th.

“Congratulations to the team at Rockstar for their success,” said UK senior brand manager Kevin Flynn. “We look forward to getting the record back before the next GTA title.”

He added: “We know that our unaided awareness for Ghosts is leading the way against other unreleased triple-A titles. Our digital content has proven extremely popular and Black Ops II has sold more than 3m units in the UK.”

[MultiConsoleGamer]

Good luck with that.

[minimur12]

You know, I was actually tempted to get CoD G this year, but then I pre-ordered KZ:SF bundle instead. 1 FPS is enough for me :)

[aCasualGamer]

This just proves that Activison want money more than bringing us quality.

[minimur12]

haha, maybe they just want the reputation of beingthe most sold game ever, I have a feeling they MIGHT possibly win this over, especially with the story being written by that guy who apparently has some reputation(?) lol. But sales are declining if I'm right.

But also bear in mind it's releasing for:
PS3
PS4
X360
X1
PC
Wii U

That's 6 platforms versus GTA's 2.

[evilhasitsway]

I got both but no way will they beat the sales of gta 5 me personly who beat the game twice wasn't really all that so who knows anything could happen.

[HammadTheBeast]

"We look forward to getting it back BEFORE THE NEXT GTA TITLE".

Yeah.

6 tries vs 1.

[ShinMaster]

GTAV deserves those sales more than COD.

[da_2pacalypse]

Yeah, Activision is not getting that trust back. Cod Ghost preorders are weak this year because Activision is killing yet another popular franchise by over saturating the market with too many iterations. First Tony Hawk, then Guitar Hero... Now Cod.

Good job.

[Sonny30]

They can do this easily. Don't put out the same game every year and spend money making a really good game that comes out once every 3 years instead. It seemed to work for Rockstar.

[pompombrum]

In reflection on MW3, I think they're going to need all the luck they can get.

[Magicite]

Theres no that much luck in the Universe.

[Deeloc]

GTA V IS KING!!

[awi5951]

When they fired the call of duty creators thats when i was done with the series and ill never buy another one.

[NeutralWaters]

Easier done than said...

[Crossbones]

To bad yall won't. Last year yall didn't have competition. This year yall have to go against BF4 & GTA V.

[wAnxTa]

I read that in a hillbilly voice.

[TheFutureIsBlue]

http://stream1.gifsoup.com/...

[Crossbones]

Yeah Yall

[TheBurger29]

and ACTUAL next gen games haha

[GarrusVakarian]

CoD is past stale, the hype for Ghosts is nowhere near the hype for Black Ops or Black Ops 2. I think it should be worrying more about BF4, than focusing on beating GTA5 (which is highly unlikely). Not even Call Of Duty can make $1 Billion in 3 days.

And even if they do get more sales, so what? That just shows that the same short attention span kiddies are buying it year in year out, or should i say their parents are buying it for them.

[DestinyHeroDoomlord]

I hope your not claiming only kids play cod.

[GarrusVakarian]

Nope, i played it myself religiously. But you can't deny that a massive portion of CoD's fanbase aren't even old enough to play the game.

[NeutralWaters]

This sounds extremely butt hurt and let me explain why... The problem a lot of people have is fun.... Activision get slated because they run an old engine which isn't realistic. The reason they have incredible sales is because not everyone wants realistic modern shooters. People want to take themselves away from reality, escape should we say and play a game ... not a simulation.
BF4 sales won't beat Ghosts, simple fact is fan base and play styles. They are totally different and you can't compare oranges to apples.
I absolutely love BF3 (PC Ultra) but I won't be getting #4, you think Ghosts is a copy paste job but you'll see. The only difference console owners will see is what they didn't have last gen...

Plus... if you don't have more than an hour to run across a map you might as well not boot up BF4! The games are too lengthily and people who have hobbies simply can't glue themselves to a TV all day.. well some will convince us they have hobbies after all ;)

[Mikelarry]

i am sure i read somehwere ghost preorder numbers are not as high as previous gen, although ghost will sell it highly doubt it will be GTA5 numbers

[PCGamingNoobs]

i think the COD train is finally stopping. we can all get back to looking forward to creative and innovative developed games.

[nukeitall]

The CoD train stopped when Black Ops 2 was releast last year, and it is starting again this November.

Get with the program!

[PCGamingNoobs]

it stopped for me after the first modern warfare.

[Danniel1]

No it isn't mate. CoD will probably be hugely successful this year, as it is every year. FPS' in general aren't my favourite genre but I have to assume that CoD is so successful because the people playing it enjoy it.

Also, we get to anticipate, enjoy and play innovative new games every year so let's not act like all there is out there are soulless franchises.

[PCGamingNoobs]

i said stopping, hence the sales actually dropping year on year and the majority of the communities opinion changing there mind on COD. ive no doubt it will be one of the biggest selling games of the year (not the biggest though)

and believe me i know how much creativeness is out there at the minute especially with the massive indie boom, im talking about big names trying to think of new things instead of trying to milk the cash cow of this gen being FPS games. lets get back to the good old days of ps2 and take a look at the Japanese gaming market.

[andrewer]

I wouldn't say it's stopping. Not as fast as before? Yeah. But not stopping. One of the things I like a lot about COD is the fact that it is the arcade style of fps. And arcade is far from meaning bad. Although the last COD I played was MW3, I'm still looking forward to what they will bring. When I want a more serious or strategic FPS, I will simply go to BF.

[Ashby_JC]

Here is the thing with COD.

For every 1 person that STOPs buying COD or gets tired of it. There is 1 or more to replace that person.

Think about it...as we get older we get tired of certain games...this case COD. But there are plenty of kids who age and get old enough to play the games we are tired of.

So I dont see COD sales dropping substantially. Wasnt the last COD there best selling one to date???

COD Ghost will sell great also....I most likely will end up with it on next gen. There is just to high amount of people in MP to pass on the fun (also I dont buy it every year so im not fatigued on it)

I have a friend that gets COD every year...plays it ALL DAY every day for a few weeks....burns himself out. I can see someone like him saying...man Im tired of COD...hmm I wonder why....you play it toooo much LMAO!

[xHoii]

I've bought every cod since cod 4, and I play it nearly every single day... I mean I love the fast pace action, the small maps, everything about it except lag and when they try to patch guns and unbalance the whole game. I myself think that those who hate the game are simply bad at it, or at least below average, Imean you might argue that the game is simple to pick up and play but no matter what not everyone playing in a match is going to get 10 kills 2 deaths, there has to be players dying and I think those are the people that don't enjoy cod and drop it the next year.. I mean I now always play league play and could hardly ever play a public game because simply I wont get that kind of pump from anything else.. and yes it's been years I've been playingthe same game because iI really do love it, it's like a sport you can't change it too much.. but I do play BF, GTA, the last of us and most other major titles.. there's no harm in loving a series, for us it's like a sport... You can't drastically change it or add new mechanics that will change the game..

Now who would even read all of that ahaha.

[LoveOfTheGame]

@Holi
That might be the case for a small amount of people, but that's the same as any game. If you are bad at a game you tend to not like that game.

That, though, is not the reason people hate cod. People tend to hate COD due to the shrinking maps, weapon imbalances, and extremely re-hashed use of mechanics and visuals.

I've personally been trying to get my friends to stop buying it and move to a different franchise with more to offer. This is finally the year where a majority of us will not be buying COD and making the full switch to BF4. None of us are generally bad at COD, hell in MW2 two of us could get a nuke basically any game, most of us even go positive while a few can get a 3/1 KD. But still the effects from playing every single COD has taken its toll on us making us more and more frustrated as the things we used to love about it (Variety of size maps, the then fresh take of modern combat and killstreaks/perks) diminish over time either in quality or variety.

[DARK WITNESS]

I use to be good at Cod. Not saying I was the best, but I could hold my own in most matches.

I was ranked up to 2000 back on cod4 at it's peak and when blops2 came out I got up to being ranked under the first 10,000 mark and my KD has always averaged 2+ across all the cod games, apart from blops2. My KD in TD was 1.9 while overall I think my KD was at the 1.8 or 1.7 mark.

I can't remember for sure because I don't play it anymore. I have managed buy every cod game since 4 because there was always a hope that they would get better but for me each one has felt worse then the last.

The biggest issue is the lag. I cannot take the game serious with how random it can be due to lag. I have played a lot of FPS games online and I can't think of any that are as inconsistent has cod has become.

To make this matter worse it it's some people do seem to have a clear advantage over it and if you ask them they don't any troubles at all which has left the community devided between people who say there is a problem and people who say there isn't and that people who complain just suck.

anyway, It's not that I think I am burnt out on Cod or I think i am that horrible at it that I don't want to play it, but I have lost any real interest I had in the series.

with next gen starting that has been the final thing to kill my interest in Cod. I don't want to cary that game over to next gen.

If and it's a very big IF... if they ever fix the lagcomp problems then maybe I will give it a try again.

I have plenty of friends that were awesome players, I am talking in the top 100's with KD's over 3.+ and they have all stopped playing cod now and feel the same.

I am just saying not everyone who hates on Cod does so because they suck at the game.

[kma2k]

i really dont feel the train will ever "stop" yes it will slow for sure but i really doubt it will stop

[clarkdef]

Everything stops even the planet one day

[GarrusVakarian]

http://1-media-cdn.foolz.us...

[king_george]

I dont think they'll be able to do that. Not with the cod franchise anyways. Too much compitition in bf4

[JackVagina]

LOL

[supraking951]

GTA4 came out in 2008 and set records. 2008...Call of Duty is out every year and was forced everyones throats for a brief period. Maybe if they didnt release every year like AC series then sales would be better. No chance CoD will beat GTA5

[Summons75]

Game that broke records because they actually changed mechanics, fine tuned old ones and got a new graphics engine vs copy/paste.....they're both same old same old but cod doesn't even have a chance compared to devs who care about their games.

[hankmoody]

Here's a suggestion, Activision. Stop releasing the same game year after year with minimal changes and actually try to make each title a significant jump from the last. I tuned out of the CoD series after MW2 and from what I've seen and played of the rest of the series, I don't think I made a bad judgment call on that.

[MilkMan]

Simple. DOnt make another game for 5 years. Same goes for Ubisoft. Then BOOM! sales record.

[RedSoakedSponge]

Call of Duty sales will only deteriorate with each release from now on if all is good in the world.

[DevilishSix]

Not going to happen. COD has annual releases and the sales have been on the decline. GTA V had five year pent up demand and the biggest game budget to date. COD Ghosts seems to have some of the lowest demand to date for the COD sries.

It isn't going to happen.

[Imonaboat1]

They will if americans keep on buying Call of Duty like hotcakes

[WeAreLegion]

They aren't. The COD series has been in decline. I think Battlefield 3 had a lot to do with that. And the fact that their best developers left to form Respawn. Lol.

[Loadedklip]

MW2 sold more than W@W
Blops 1 sold more than MW2
MW3 sold more than Blops 1

... only Blops 2 has failed to sell more than the previous game line the last few years.

If Ghost sells less than Blops 2 then yes ... it is in decline. But if Ghost sells more than Blops 2 ... then its not declining ... yet.

[WeAreLegion]

Don't forget that MW3 had worse reviews than previous entries, as well. The new Infinity Ward can't make a game to save their lives. And Treyarch has yet to make a good game. Battlefield 4 pre-orders are on-par with COD: Ghosts. There's a reason for that.

[buynit]

I didnt know it was only americans buying cod..

[Kinger8938]

Make something new for a change

[Ashby_JC]

They did....well not them but ....Titan Fall.

[sigfredod]

Lol, i don't think so with your anual copy paste

[ApolloTheBoss]

So they hatin, then.

[GentlemenRUs]

I just cracked a rib!

I knew Activision were greedy but this is beyond that!

[WeAreLegion]

Haha. No. Just...no.

[Ashby_JC]

GTAV is at 23 million (vgchartz) after what 3 weeks.

I dont see COD Ghost taking back the crown. It will sell a lot....but GTA numbers....dont think so!

[BattleTorn]

They have a better shot with Destiny.

But a new IP is unlikely to come close to even CoD:Ghost's sale, unfortunity.

[Brix90]

Can't wait for Destiny I don't know about breaking records considering its a new IP but I have no doubt it will do good in sales especially with the Halo fanbase probably taking an interest in Bungie's new game.

[Ashby_JC]

I just realized something.

Why is he worrying about getting the crown or whatever it is.

COD sells a crapload EVERY year. Meaning in reality they are making more overall money then GTAV devs (Im just guessing)

Every year you make a game that sells like what 20 million plus....versus a game that comes every 5 years and games in between.

Money wise...id rather be in Activisions shows.

[Loadedklip]

So much hate for Call of Duty in this page. You guys are acting like it really is a terrible game. A ton of people buy Call of Duty every year because they genuinely love playing it.

[buynit]

I agree.. I enjoy the cod franchise for what it is and it sure is a lot of fun to play online, my biggest complaint is no dedicated server. How can a game that sells well every year still not get dedicated server? I wonder if ms compute cloud is going to fix that?

[cyborg47]

Not gonna happen.

[cardgenius]

Im thinking about buying Ghosts. Itll be my first COD game since MW2. But Ill have to see how BF4 and Killzone are first.

[RickHiggity]

With what? Call of duty? Or will we start seeing annual GTA ripoffs?

[Double_O_Revan]

Not gonna happen.

[MegaRay]

But they already did. They made 5 CoD games while R* made 1 game the last 5years

[TheFutureIsBlue]

http://gifrific.com/wp-cont...

Suuurreee. Keep telling yourself that.

PS

It's not going to happen!

[lildudexst]

yeah i'm sorry activision. but your simple game is nowhere near Rockstar skill or talent.

[MightyNoX]

Every company tries to reach that magical 10 million sales number. How many MMOs did World of Warcraft slaughter as more and more pretenders to the throne stepped up? How many years has the MMO genre suffered as Devs were too busy aping WoW to innovate?

Stop trying to be 'That Game'. Look at what you have and make realistic assessments.

[Clarence]

Not gone happen.

[Leio]

With what ? fish AI ?

[dillhole]

.....Make a good game then. I guess it's hard to expand upon COD when the people that created it and made it what it is are no longer working on it. You can't just replace core members of a creative team and expect continued innovation.

[sackboyhappy]

activision might beat gta if they put customers before money but that's not going to happen.

[DarkBlood]

*reads this realise im not drinking anything, imagines drink spitting out in my mind instead* lol it sure has hell aint going to get a billion dolars in sales

[Red_Devilz]

With what? CoDOG? LMAO.