Gears 3 is where it's at even though no one plays. MW3 was the safest sequel ever. But is being down 4% really big news? Come on now ....
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Report: Call of Duty sales slowing down, Modern Warfare 3 down year over year
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
Gears 3 is where it's at even though no one plays. MW3 was the safest sequel ever. But is being down 4% really big news? Come on now ....
PairOfFilthySocks
Member
Yup. The current trend by many publishers to ape Call of Duty is their own fault. You can't blame CoD for the total lack of creativity or inspiration on the part of other publishers.
Chip N Chance
Member
I agree that it felt like Black Ops was the peak in terms of popularity and just all around buzz. Also the whole Elite service has dwindled my excitement for new content for what is otherwise a decent game. I miss the days of looking forward to a big pack full of 5 new maps and a entirely new zombie co-op map. Now everything is just handed to me in piece meal. Granted you can still download the packs, but im sort of stuck doing it this way. Whatever, the whole game was a bummer from the launch lol.
The Anti-Monitor
Banned
It's obvious they couldn't keep up the pace, but if you think Call of Duty is even close to enter the danger zone you are way too delusional.
The next 2 Call of Duty will outsell all your favorite games, without any trouble.
The next 2 Call of Duty will outsell all your favorite games, without any trouble.
I think the "next gen" COD, if it's a launch title, will also have the power to move mountains. I think we're still 5 years off from COD being completely condemned.
It could find new life on other platforms. COD iOS would be something... especially since they already have Zombies on it, IIRC. Another thing to consider is that the mechanics are being freshened up for the next game, so they could essentially reinvent the game and hook a new lot with that one.
SolidSnakex
Member
I disagree about it being Madden. If you're a football fan then Madden is literally your only option. EA has the NFL license and it doesn't appear that they're going to be letting it go anytime soon. Other companies have given up even attempting to compete with Madden because they don't have the NFL license. You also don't expect much innovation with sports games because there really isn't much wiggle room when you're aiming for a sim.
That isn't the case with CoD. There's nothing stopping another company from coming along and overtaking CoD. And EA has already said that it's their goal to take CoD down. That might've seemed like a fantasy to some, but CoD's sales are down and Battlefield has turned into a legitimate contender. They also have a FPS by the CoD creators (Vince and Jason) coming up. That's obviously going to receive a ton of marketing and media attention once it's unveiled.
A lack of innovation is a big reason why CoD may "die". It's obviously something that isn't going to happen over night, but it's not a good thing to have yearly releases of a brand that many people view as being $60 map packs. That's an especially bad strategy when that game is in one of the most competitive genres in gaming.
People are quick to point at the fact that CoD will probably still be the best selling game released this year. But that's ignoring that one of the things that Activision liked bring up about the sales of the series is that each entry outsold the last one. In other words, it was always a growing brand even though it was already extremely popular. This will be the first time that they can't do that. Does that mean that they should be freaking out because their big money maker is in trouble? Not necessarily, but they should be looking at ways of making the brand fresh. And "Elite" is far from being the answer to that.
AlimNassor
Banned
Good. I was right when I said MW3 was the worst yet and they're getting worse and worse. They're going to run the series into the ground and never fix anything that's wrong. My friends are all huge CoD fans and even they hated MW3. They've all went back to Black Ops.
Bitmap Frogs
Mr. Community
I can't wait for the peripherals to start in a few more years.
Hah, at first glance I read that as Troll Hawk: Ride.
On topic, I wonder what will happen to Activision-Blizzard once the Activision side revenues fall to zero.
Uno Venova
Banned
Well MW3 was awful, none of the maps were great, the lag was ridiculous, and you died even faster than in past games. I'm glad it's not having the same success as Black Ops, which was actually pretty decent.
It funny to think about how many people got laughed at and called delusional when they said the franchise possibly peaked with Black Ops.
It funny to think about how many people got laughed at and called delusional when they said the franchise possibly peaked with Black Ops.
The people predicting the franchise peaked with Black Ops had no idea. They were pretty much right by luck and guessing instead of using any sort of analysis.
legacyzero
Banned
couldn't have said it better. I've actually returned to playing Black Ops. Still such a great game. I certainly cant call them "TRYarch" anymore. I hope BLOPS 2 is a #gamechanger though, otherwise I dont think i'll be buying it this year. That COD fatigue is really setting in.
Far Cry 3 is gonna have my full attention this year anyway.
Gran turismo?
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Next Generation: SpaceChem!
SatelliteOfLove
Member
It's the same as one reason for WoW's handling in the last 3 years: GROWTH GROWTH GROWTH. Nothing else matters, especially after Rockband and Tony Hawk's fall from grace.
pokemons coming back baby bigger than ever
Stallion Free
Cock Encumbered
I don't understand the desperation that *certain* people have for this series to die.
It's not that some people are desperate, I just think the majority (myself included) want to see something new.
It may sell less next iteration, but shooters are an established genre that has stood the test of time (unlike skateboard or peripheral music games), so I'm not really expecting a huge fall off in sales. Come next gen, it will be the game that pushes most to get a new console.
Basileus777
Member
I doubt they attribute this decline in sales to that. And from a quality perspective I'm not sure they would have made that much of a difference considering how mediocre/poor MW2 was.
I'd mostly blame the short developing time for the flaws that MW2 had (and the lack of their creative freedom).
I just think if they'd want to restart they series now in a similar way like it Call of Duty 4 did, they're going to fail miserably.
Stallion Free
Cock Encumbered
Then buy something different? If you are interested in the OG IW team doing something new, then that's great because they are!
New from who?
Angry Fork
Member
COD went bad when Infinity Ward introduced all that stupid shit in MW2. Blame the terrible'ness on them. Now they can't balance the game within 2 years because the devs have to balance 10 extra things instead of just 3 5 7 and the maps. Hopefully Respawn does better on their new IP and doesn't introduce a bunch of casual dumb shit to appeal to point junkies.
Stallion Free
Cock Encumbered
They had easily the best implementation of hardcore in the series and they brought back dedicated servers to PC after the MW2 debacle along with a FOV slider. My pc gaming buddies and I all pumped 200+ hours into hardcore TDM alone on the stock maps. Also, the stock maps played fantastically in TDM after they fixed the spawning issue, probably my fav set of maps in the series overall.
The singleplayer was nowhere near as slick with the scripting as IW's stuff.
D.Lo
Member
Actually:
N64/PS1 Era: Final Fantasy
PS2/GCN/Xbox Era: Grand Theft Auto
PS3/Xbox 360/Wii Era: Wii X/Mario/COD
The top selling game of this generation was Mario Kart Wii, followed by NSMB Wii and NSMB. That's only if you don't count Wii Sports, Wii Play and Wii Sports Resort.
Actually I'm not sure but pretty sure Nintendogs, Brain Training, Mario Kart DS and Wii Fit would also be well in the COD Range, if not ahead.
But then as we know this gen was split in two.
The multiplayer. The singleplayer was your typical Infinity Ward Tribute Game with inconsistent scripting, waiting for grown-ups to open doors for you and levels where the game takes control away from you.
MP is the main positive yes. The SP had quite a few places of bad level design like that infamous Vietnam infinite spawn hill. I loved the ludicrous story and cold war conspiracy theme throughout the whole game though. It was full of twists and was very entertaining. It filled its 5 hour action movie quota very well without trying to be too serious like a lot of other games.
SolidSnakex
Member
Gran Turismo was actually the biggest series during the PSone/N64/Saturn era.
It felt less like MW2 and more like COD4 because there was less shit in the air. Also, the fact that there was no nuke (only the MOAB) meant less camping overall, in my opinion. Maps were great, I thought, and the addition of theatre mode and wager matches really made it an awesome package.
The SP was the best COD experience since it tried its hand at a solid narrative; a major strength was it relied on fewer characters that actually had personalities, motivations, and their own faces. I hated the loading screen stuff with faux satellite imagery and dossier shit that's seemingly common to all other CODs wherein you'd be teleported from worthless cannon fodder solider X to soldier Y. (And I say this as someone who loved COD4 and earlier WW2 CODs.)
In my opinion, this is the order of value:
COD4 > COD2 > BLOPS > COD1 > WAW > all remaining CODs
The Albatross
Member
I consider MW2 to be one of the best games this gen, if only for the ridiculously addictive multiplayer and that it was such a sweet spot of this generation, where pretty much all of my friends had 360s and all of my friends bought this game. It was the closest to "counter-strike moments" that I've had in videogames.
Same here, I really enjoyed Black OPs, felt like the 'peak' to me. I did purchase MW3 but got tired of it fast.
I'm sure Activision will blame most of this on used games and not having an online pass system, online pass incoming.
I liked it because there was virtually 0 sniping going on for whatever reason. I must have been sniped no more than 15 times when I played the game for the first couple of months on 360. Whether it was just luck or level design I loved it.
VeryGooster
Banned
Spec Ops doesn't get enough love. 
The funny thing is I don't find BLOPS to be that great, but it was definitely better than MW3.
The funny thing is I don't find BLOPS to be that great, but it was definitely better than MW3.
Stallion Free
Cock Encumbered
Wager Mode, Sticks & Stones + 5 buddies on mumbles = best multiplayer experience of the last 5 years easily.
The mode was absolutely brilliant and puts other modes to shame.
The mode was absolutely brilliant and puts other modes to shame.
I really wish Treyarch would do spec-ops instead of zombies. Zombies gets boring right at the start.Spec Ops doesn't get enough love.
OldJadedGamer
Banned
COD4 was the peak for me.
Oh and I don't hate on the COD since none of my real life friends play it. MW3 was the game I've seen the least pop up in my list out of the entire series.
test_account
XP-39C²
Not that surprising. But it doesnt really mean anything in my opinion if it still sells 15-20 million copies.
Modern Warfare 3 is my most played online CoD game. The other CoD games were fun online as well, but there was something that kept me playing MW3 longer. The infected mode is also pretty fun
EDIT: I'm looking forward to Black Ops 2. Starting to get a bit tired of MW3, but that is normal for me after 150+ hours of gameplay hehe. I hope that they include the modes from MW3, like Kill Confirmed, Infected, Team Defender and Drop Zone.
Modern Warfare 3 is my most played online CoD game. The other CoD games were fun online as well, but there was something that kept me playing MW3 longer. The infected mode is also pretty fun
EDIT: I'm looking forward to Black Ops 2. Starting to get a bit tired of MW3, but that is normal for me after 150+ hours of gameplay hehe. I hope that they include the modes from MW3, like Kill Confirmed, Infected, Team Defender and Drop Zone.
Takamura-San
Member
So it went from selling a shit ton...
To a little less than a shit ton...
I don't see any reason for activision to worry, yet...
To a little less than a shit ton...
I don't see any reason for activision to worry, yet...
D.Lo
Member
I don't think so? Maybe average per title, but there were three main FFs, 7 and 8 both sold ~10 million-ish, and 9 and Tactics surely did a few million each too. So maybe 30 million all up for the gen (less than Mario Kart Wii alone, times have changed).
I was under the impession GT1 sold 10 mil, GT2 sold 5 mill and the series really took off with 3 on the PS2. So significantly less than FF. Heck even Crash Bandicoot sold those numbers all up.
Shorty11857
Member
I liked MW3 but right now I just feel so burnt out on the whole franchise, MW2 was the game that got me into COD and I spent over 300 hours playing it, Blops I had a lot of problems with but spent 100+ hours on but MW3 I've only put 40 hours into and haven't played in months. I just can't see myself buying Blops 2 right now
VeryGooster
Banned
Maybe not, but if players are becoming less satisfied with each yearly entry I'd really hope Activision would step back and realize too frequent installments helped kill two formerly strong franchises of theirs -- although Tony Hawk and GH were asking for more money because of those plastic peripherals.
BobTheFork
Member
I know people are hoping for the death of this series, but I wonder if this isn't a function of more people just staying with the previous incarnation rather than dying interest. There are plenty of people who don't want to re-start on a new character and I think some people are just staying with the COD they have. I feels like regardless of the brand there is still a huge market for a major online FPS and since there really hasn't been anything even close to coming up and stealing that crown I think COD is still here to stay for some time.
specialguy
Banned
Doesn't anybody realize ALL game sales seem to be down right now? More than 4% from what I can tell.
So this could easily be just COD being caught in the larger trend.
So this could easily be just COD being caught in the larger trend.
CecilRousso
Member
Oh what I wouldn´t give to be a fly in the meeting room when a bunch of suits sits down and try to figure out what they can do to keep maximizing the revenues from the CoD cow, when the reality probably just is that people get bored from playing the same stuff over and over again.
Now that developers seem to be finding their ground without the support of these publishers , this cynical spreadsheet way of game development has gone from tragic, to being entertaining from a distance. I can´t wait to see what they can come up with now that stuff like season passes for DLC is a real thing.
Now that developers seem to be finding their ground without the support of these publishers , this cynical spreadsheet way of game development has gone from tragic, to being entertaining from a distance. I can´t wait to see what they can come up with now that stuff like season passes for DLC is a real thing.