Call of Duty: Ghosts Sales Are "Troubling," Analyst Says

[Dark Knifer]

So if cod goes I suspect sch fi shooters will take it's place, with the likes of titanfall and destiny.

I can live with that as I can tolerate sci-fi better then paranoid millitary shooters with a hatred for anything not USA.

 

[Something Amyss]

Ha, obviously not, being that they'd clearly rather plow their franchises into the ground instead of put some effort into them and make them a constant in gaming for years to come. It won't be the first time they've done it, as we're all well aware, but still, it would be nice if they did give Treyarch exclusive development rights and decent dev cycles, as they've proven they can produce half-decent to downright enjoyable games using the license and only a year in which to do it.

On the plus side, Ghosts meant another release I didn't feel inclined to buy. I don't know what the future holds, but Treyarch actually had me interested in BLOPS 2. And then I saw ghosts and...Meh.

but yeah, Activision will probably keep with the yearly alternating ones until there's no interest in the genre anymore.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Not surprising. Activision ran into the same problem they had with Guitar Hero.

Or more broadly, the same problem that Halo briefly had between Halo 3 and Reach (ironically, a problem that enabled CoD4.x to steal the Grossly Overrated Console Shooter Throne from Halo in the first place)

Which is that they're seeing diminishing returns by shitting out the same game over and over.
Halo lasted a good 6-7 years before losing its crown, so that's on target for the core crowd.

I want Call of Duty X Warcraft.

Fantasy heroes vs modern military soldiers.

I don't care if the fantasy faction has to have Mary Sue level invulnerability, that is one territory that has yet to be explored.

Shadowrun would be the perfect crossroads for those genres, actually. Hell, the ACTUAL Shadowrun could make for a great sandbox-shooter (unlike that...thing from 2006 with Shadowrun's name taped onto it). It does a bit of everything, cyberpunk, fantasy magic, with elements of the modern world.

Unfortunately, Shadowrun is unlikely to ever receive a quality game now, given Shadowrun Returns' being a fairly large disappointment, and the other being an MMO in development (MMOs is where "fun" and "innovation" goes to die, far as I'm concerned. There is no way to avoid the demon that is the grind in that genre).

 

[Trippy Turtle]

Well this sucks.
Now instead of fun gameplay oriented games we are going to get triple A modern progressive storytelling 2deep4you experiences. But don't worry all, at least a popular game failed. That's worth ruining the fun of millions right?

 

[Evonisia]

Oh all the people just going "that's what they get for copy pasting year after year", I play Black Ops II laughing at how wrong that statement is.

But I expected Ghosts to begin the burn out phase of Call of Duty, it could only go on for so long. Maybe when Treyarch raises CoD's standards again it will pick up or better yet, bring stability to the income from it. Seriously the development can't cost that much to mean that 20% less sales than the previous title is disastrous.

 

[Hoplon]

Oh all the people just going "that's what they get for copy pasting year after year", I play Black Ops II laughing at how wrong that statement is.

But I expected Ghosts to begin the burn out phase of Call of Duty, it could only go on for so long. Maybe when Treyarch raises CoD's standards again it will pick up or better yet, bring stability to the income from it. Seriously the development can't cost that much to mean that 20% less sales than the previous title is disastrous.

It's got nothing to do with dev costs or over all profits, this is about shareholders seeing a number that isn't positive and worse yet it's more than the people in charge said it would be.

Pretty sure COD isn't going any ware, but some of the execs might well be.

 

[Lightknight]

So if cod goes I suspect sch fi shooters will take it's place, with the likes of titanfall and destiny.

I can live with that as I can tolerate sci-fi better then paranoid millitary shooters with a hatred for anything not USA.

Those are already going to exist. There's no reason why one game existing means another cannot. Halo also still exists, for example, and sold quite well (nearly 9 million). Then you have killzone and titanfall and destiny like you mentioned.

COD is at the top of the ladder only because it is liked by more people. It is not holding down or holding back other titles.

The game isn't sold because of it's paranoid militaristic storyline. Most players don't even go through the main story mode as funny as that may sound. It's just a really fun military FPS game. Ultra easy to play without anything holding it back. Nice looking and easy controls. Can't do too badly with that.

 

[Dragonbums]

Look guys, I think CoD is just as uninspired as the next guy, but really now, I don't think we should be shouting hoorah at their failings. The game was just rushed (more so than usual) and it suffered from it.

However these claims that CoD ruined gaming personally is ridiculous. CoD didn't tell other game studios to make/turn their IP's into CoD knockoffs. That's all on companies that are lazy and uninspired that are more concerned about their top dollar than a good product.

CoD blotting off gaming existence isn't going to suddenly make videogames as a whole more creative. We all know that they are just going to latch off on the next best thing and milk that to dust.

 

[Something Amyss]

Well this sucks.
Now instead of fun gameplay oriented games we are going to get triple A modern progressive storytelling 2deep4you experiences. But don't worry all, at least a popular game failed. That's worth ruining the fun of millions right?

I know you're not being serious. I just can't decide on which level.

However these claims that CoD ruined gaming personally is ridiculous. CoD didn't tell other game studios to make/turn their IP's into CoD knockoffs. That's all on companies that are lazy and uninspired that are more concerned about their top dollar than a good product.

They should have known the entire industry would copy them!

...Yeah. I'm not being serious, but still.

Call of Duty is finally dying. I just hope it's death will be quick and painless, but I doubt that. Treyarch will electrocute the shit out of it in a vain effort to restart it's black, withered heart.

Yes, Treyarch is the problem here. Even though the one that sold less had nothing to do with them and neither dev has any real say in the continuation of the series.

 

[Lightknight]

So, I've got this game now, for the ps4. It's a lot of fun and impressive. However, it only allows for two player split screen. This is actually a deal breaker for me as I regularly invite friends over to play 4-player split screen multiplayer.

Going forward, I'll continue to play this one when I have only one other person (my wife and I play online), but the moment I find a 4-person game that's decent I'll drop this in an instant. In the meantime, for parties and when a few guests are around, I'll be sticking with Black Ops II as the last 4-person multiplayer that had bots.

Weird, what a strange thing to be known for allowing these kinds of things and then just not including it. I will hold off on the next time a COD game comes out to learn whether or not it includes this option.

Look guys, I think CoD is just as uninspired as the next guy, but really now, I don't think we should be shouting hoorah at their failings.

No one would look at a title that hasn't even been out for two full months and has already sold 13.64 MILLION copies is a failure. That's hilarious. In 5 weeks it has already sold so many copies that 2 of its versions (360 and ps3) are in the top 5 top selling games of the year. That's the same game occupying two different slots in the top 5. Beating it is GTA V with two of its versions and Pokemon XY (hurrah).

Failing? That term is almost as hilarious as Charlie Sheen's winning was for a bit there.

 

[Dragonbums]

No one would look at a title that hasn't even been out for two full months and has already sold 13.64 MILLION copies is a failure. That's hilarious. In 5 weeks it has already sold so many copies that 2 of its versions (360 and ps3) are in the top 5 top selling games of the year. That's the same game occupying two different slots in the top 5. Beating it is GTA V with two of its versions and Pokemon XY (hurrah).

Failing? That term is almost as hilarious as Charlie Sheen's winning was for a bit there.

Failing was perhaps too strong of a word. However I wouldn't call those sales troubling either.

I guess I just find it ridiculous that analysts have already jumped into the wagon to be the first to predict that CoD is going downhill. Then again, I've browsed gaming news sites long enough that I should no better by now to never take these guys seriously.

 

[ckam]

Well, that's actually quite ? great. Yeah, I'm taking this news rather well. Good job, consumer market.

 

[Pyramid Head]

To calm any panicking Call of Duty fans, Call of Duty: Ghosts was built on a seven year old engine and had no creativity at all. It was cheap enough that it's disappointing sales won't hurt Activision. As much as i would like to see them hurt for that boring shit.

 

[Lightknight]

Failing was perhaps too strong of a word. However I wouldn't call those sales troubling either.

I guess I just find it ridiculous that analysts have already jumped into the wagon to be the first to predict that CoD is going downhill. Then again, I've browsed gaming news sites long enough that I should no better by now to never take these guys seriously.

Eh, I think you were just saying failing because that's what posters in the thread are mistakingly indicating. So I was more using your post to correct the thread than you yourself (as you are typically quite reasonable in discussion, as evidenced by your response here). But yeah, these numbers are astounding any day of the week and are only increasing.

It's also possible that people didn't buy the games at launch becaues they were waiting for the next gen console before buying the next-gen version. And, when they actually got the next gen console, this game didn't have the advantage of all that release day marketing. I didn't buy a copy until yesterday when a ps4 was finally available for sale in my area.

If you like realistic multiplayer FPS games, this is a nearly perfect series. People like to hate on it for whatever reason, but it's simply a niche game that has a huge niche. Perhaps it's just popular to hate on what's popular. But as a realistic title, it only has so far to go before it can't make decent enough improvements.

To calm any panicking Call of Duty fans, Call of Duty: Ghosts was built on a seven year old engine and had no creativity at all. It was cheap enough that it's disappointing sales won't hurt Activision. As much as i would like to see them hurt for that boring shit.

I played the game for the first time last night. It's actually pretty cool. The environments are what have improved the most, they're a lot more realistic and open. I feel like the graphics have been as good as they need to be for some time now (hell, Modern Warfare 2 still looks pretty), they improved them but I think that was mostly unnecessary. Have you played the title on an 8th gen console?

Biggest complaint is, as I said, that they knocked the 4-player multiplayer down to 2. It basically prevents this game from being my standard go-to at parties with my friends who enjoy the franchise.

But as I stated, this is likely due to the staggered versions. Some people waiting or are waiting on purchasing the game when the new console comes out because they don't want to waste money on the old console version. Due to the waiting, COD marking tapered off like any game does a few weeks after the official launch and now COD is competing with a list of other new titles. Either way, it's at 13.64 million copies sold and this past week's numbers haven't shown up yet.