Activision Shells Out More Than Ever Before for Black Ops Launch

[Logan Westbrook]

Activision Shells Out More Than Ever Before for Black Ops Launch

Activision says that Call of Duty: Black Ops [http://www.amazon.com/Call-Duty-Black-Ops-Xbox-360/dp/B003JVKHEQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1281097034&sr=8-1] is one of the best games it has ever made, and it's spending more than ever to make sure it's a success.

Activision is spending an unprecedented amount of cash on the launch of Treyarch's new Call of Duty game, Black Ops. In Activision's Q1 financial conference call, CEO Bobby Kotick said that it was the biggest investment the publisher had ever made in a title launch, but the sheer size of the market made it worth it.

Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime said that Activision Blizzard had greatly benefitted from having such a huge player base for Call of Duty, and from the success of the downloadable content. He said that that a lot of learning had been incorporated into Black Ops and it was shaping up to be one of the best products that Activision had ever created. He also said that it was a significant part of why the publisher was so enthusiastic about its prospects for second half of the year.

It's hard to believe that Black Ops will sell better than Modern Warfare 2, for no other reason than MW2's sales were just so enormous. But Activision is understandably keen to take advantage of the power of the Call of Duty brand, and it seems very likely that Black Ops is going to be a big success, especially with so much investment behind it.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is due to be released on November 9th.

Source: VG247 [http://www.vg247.com/2010/08/06/kotick-black-ops-the-biggest-investment-weve-ever-made-for-launch/]


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[Eruanno]

And I have yet to even play Modern Warfare 2 yet... ah, well.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Well, since it's coming out around the same time Halo: Reach, it's going to have some stiff competition in the 360 market.

It'll sell well, no doubt. But sales beyond those of MW2?

 

[silver wolf009]

Im proably gonna get this even if its only to close my eyes with the crossbow and pretend im Rambo.

 

[Natdaprat]

They have to invest. Since losing the only good developer (pretty much) of the CoD franchise will mean they have to rely on Treyarch for making actually quality games, rather than buying for the name.

Personally I'm not buying it. They're all the same now.

 

[Ldude893]

Something tells me this is going to be the death of Activision.

Scratch that, it'll take more than this to kill Activision. Still, I find Bobby Kotick's overconfidence very disturbing.

 

[Don't taze me bro]

They have to invest. Since losing the only good developer (pretty much) of the CoD franchise will mean they have to rely on Treyarch for making actually quality games, rather than buying for the name.

The cynic in me was thinking exactly the same thing. Activision has to invest and Black Ops needs to equal or surpass MW2 in sales, so that the Infinity Ward incident and the losing of so many key staff from IW to Respawn means nothing for the CoD franchise.

I don't plan on getting Black Ops, but I'm definitely interested to see how it will perform.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

Goddamn you Acitivion, stop making all the other games push their release dates back.

I'm not getting Black Ops on launch so you won't be getting as much precious money anyway.

 

[Jonluw]

I don't think it is going to sell as well as MW2. I think most gamers are getting tired of all these CoD games. They've reached a saturation point, in my mind. It peaked at MW2, and can only go downhill from here.

 

[Mr Companion]

I really hope people will stop buying their games in order to encourage fresh game concepts. Also because I bloody well hate Activision.

 

[crotalidian]

They have to invest. Since losing the only good developer (pretty much) of the CoD franchise will mean they have to rely on Treyarch for making actually quality games, rather than buying for the name.

The cynic in me was thinking exactly the same thing. Activision has to invest and Black Ops needs to equal or surpass MW2 in sales, so that the Infinity Ward incident and the losing of so many key staff from IW to Respawn means nothing for the CoD franchise.

I don't plan on getting Black Ops, but I'm definitely interested to see how it will perform.

Pretty Much this with Big Bells on saying 'Look Vince, Look Jason we dont need you. With your innovation and great story Look where it gets you!' and probaly Bobby kotick dancing around and slapping hi sthighs like a 12 year old on pixie sticks

EDIT: the great story is MW1 havent played MW2

 

[Dorkmaster Flek]

The saturation of the Call of Duty brand (not unlike another certain Activision brand, *coughGuitarHerocough*) combined with the Infinity Ward debacle means that Black Ops cannot possibly sell as well as MW2. It's just impossible. I would hope that the number of people boycotting it based on the Infinite Ward mess alone would account for that. I'm interested to see how it performs, but personally I'm hoping it marks a failure and the decline of Activision.

 

[shaboinkin]

I don't understand how they are spending millions when cod4 till now all had somewhat of the same game engine. They just reskin everything it seems like and add a few new things here and there.

Unless they are spending it all on marketing.

 

[Jonny49]

Sounds to me like Activision are trying to wipe away IW as the leading Call of Duty developer and replace then with Treyarch.

 

[addeB]

I'm not getting Black Ops on launch so you won't be getting as much precious money anyway.

Same.
I would rather get Halo: Reach at launch then Black ops.

 

[Blue Musician]

Could Activision stop making COD games now please?

 

[Eruanno]

I'm not getting Black Ops on launch so you won't be getting as much precious money anyway.

Same.
I would rather get Halo: Reach at launch then Black ops.

Yeah, I kind of liked Halo Reach from playing the beta. But then, I've always been more into "crazy Quake-like shooter" rather than "realistic shooter".