Call of Duty sales slow down as casual buyers find entertainment elsewhere

Gamasutra - Previous analyst predictions were right: it looks like ongoing sales of the annual Call of Duty franchise are beginning to slow down.

Life-to-date sales of 2011's entry Modern Warfare 3 are behind where 2010's Black Ops was at this time last year, despite the former having a stronger debut.

[The Meerkat]

Black Ops didn't have BF3 to contend with.

And is a casual gamer not also likely to buy Black ops or MW2 at a cheaper price instead of MW3, its almost the same game.

[dark-hollow]

it was bound to happen.
cod 4 had big potential to expand but yet they chose the lazy way, repackaging the game year over year without any big improvements.

activision had really short sight for the future.
sure the rehashing is profitable for them now, but sooner or later the series gonna die!

if they stick to 2-3 years development cycles with big improvements the cod series could live up for generations to come. with more and more competition from younger games that dares to break the mold and go innovative and fresh.

[Army_of_Darkness]

sales are behind by around 4.2% from last year's COD?? lol! oh yeah. COD is definitely going downhill (-_-)...

meerkat is right, everyone ends up buying older versions of cod, especially when its $20 during the holiday season. I'm not a fan and even I did out of "oh what the hell" instinct!

[StanSmith]

"sales are behind by around 4.2% from last year's COD?? lol! oh yeah. COD is definitely going downhill (-_-)..."

This is exactly what happened to Guitar Hero. COD will last a few more years at best. We all knew this would happen.

Activision have two choices:

Increase COD's budget to make it a better game complete with new engine,
Or
Let COD carry on regardless and Hurry up and find a new way to make money.

Without COD, Activision is screwed!

[ginsunuva]

Yes the casual gamers are willing to buy the same game over again for max price points - they've showed us that over the past decade.

[-Mezzo-]

Was waiting for this headline for over 4 years. FINALLY

[Pekolie]

Oh good for you, were you having sleeping problems over that time??? On the bright side your life will now be full of fluffy sheep, unicorns and rainbows.

[MAJ0R]

What has happened to Guitar Hero is finally happening to COD, Activision just never learns...

[glennco]

i know. we don't need analysts to tell us when a game is being milked. i haven't been able to play CoD single player since CoD 4 and even then, aside from 2 levels, was just a cinematic walkthrough. for some reason (thanks activision) EA now thinks that is what we want.

and multiplayer... i played BFBC1 instead of CoD4 and have never looked back. just my opinion, i am not telling people they shouldn't play a game they enjoy, that is just dumb.

[wenaldy]

Suckers still buying previous installment which is the same game

[TheGOODKyle]

JUSTICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!

[kevnb]

just too many games released year after year. Too many expensive map packs too. And oh yeah, infinity ward has been gutted just because they wanted to make something new...

[Tachyon_Nova]

Are people really so eager to see the demise of call of duty that they fail to realise that it has actually fallen much less than the gaming market overall? The gaming market has fallen about 25% from the start of this year to now compared with the year earlier, so a 4% fall in Call of Duty sales means it actually has fairly strong relative growth compared to the market as a whole. So people aren't replacing CoD with another game, they simply aren't buying games for consoles at the same rate hey were last year.

If more people used their brains....

[Draperc]

"If more people used their brains...."

You do realize that you're asking the impossible right? Especially on here.

[glennco]

YES! i want to see the demise of CoD just the same as when tony hawk fell from grace. if a game makes money developers should put that money into improving the next installment. if a game makes a shit ton of money then they HAVE to put that money back into the next game. anything else is just taking the piss.

i think activision went short term and opened the door for EA to come in. there is still time to turn it around if the drastically update CoD but i won't be a customer of that series ever again. when i boycott something i actually boycott it

just because people don't agree with you, doesn't mean they are not using their brains. it is just emotions also come into it as we are only human. and like yours, this is only my opinion

[ninjagoat]

If they hit a good MOH game out this year i think Black ops 2 could struggle tbh. People know what to expect from the Frostbyte 2 engine now. If they throw a good mix of that with a mix of what people have come to expect down the line from the COD series.

It will be like COD with the one thing COD don't give new engine and dedicated servers. Anyone with there heads screwed on that means win win. EA could steal the monopoly with the right moves balls in EAs court imo.

To many years Activision have been ripping people of with Elite etc exculsive DLC. EA get a special edition out get the map packs the same time as anyone else simple. Remember BFBC2 that should be a bookmark in games as to how content is sent out to players imo.

BF3 is off to a great start aswell. No need to think MOH won't be any different. I'm not a fan of being treated second best when i pay the same money as everyone else for a product. Nether should anyone else be.

[Ducky]

"Remember BFBC2 that should be a bookmark in games as to how content is sent out to players imo."

You mean, have DLC that unlocks game-modes on existing maps? O.o

Activision and EA are both in the business of finding ways of screwing over consumers. You're fooling yourself if you think one is going to treat you better than the other.

[A LIVING LEGEND]

The sales crawl to a near stop as the articles detailing COD's many virtues reach levels reminiscent of the minus worlds.
We have crawl/creep repeat......until someone says otherwise. unreal

[solidworm]

anything to do with the game being a huge chunk of wank?