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[Triggerhappytel]

If AW is a metacritic hit, it will sell. If it´s received like Ghosts, the franchise has just been Guitar Hero´ed.

Even if AW is a sales disappointment by COD's own standards, it'll still probably make 15 million sales. There's no way Activision will axe it any time soon though; what they may do is to rethink their strategy (which would be a good thing), although they've already started that by creating a third studio on rotation and giving each of them a three year development cycle. Advanced Warfare will be the first product of this renewed strategy, and to be fair to Sledgehammer I think it looks like the most interesting instalment since MW2.

 

[amardilo]

I haven't played a CoD since MW3 in 2011 so for me Advanced Warfare is coming out at a time I'm kind of wanting to try out a new CoD game.

But I haven' pre-ordered as I tend to buy most of my games digitally now and I tend to wait for reviews to tell me if it is worth playing or not (don't need to have amazing review score just state that it's worth playing).

I also tend to wait for sites like Digital Foundry to tell me which console version if any is slightly better than the other (previous gen I always went 360 but this gen my friends list is split between platforms and both have controllers that feel comfortable in my hand).

As long as reviews I read/watch mention it being at least OK and an improvement on Ghosts then I'll most likely pick it up.

 

[Gibbo]

Ghost was fucking terrible. The ending is one of the worst that ive seen

 

[glaurung]

Ghosts was bland as fuck and left a sour taste in many a mouth.

I expect a whole lot of CoD fans are waiting for a verdict before buying into the hype again.

And there is most definitely one segment that broke off into Titanfall and is playing that ever since and another that went over to the dark side (Destiny).

 

[jadedm17]

Or it could be that Ghosts was so bad that it left a sour taste in everyone's mouth.

It certainly left a bad taste in mine.

This is how I feel wholeheartedly. It was..... Blah.
And on a side note I'd love a Rock Band on PS4 and I'd pay $200 again.

 

[Tookay]

Kinda expected honestly, few reasons why:
- First CoD after Ghosts
- First Sledgehammer CoD
- They worked on MW3
- It's Not Black Ops 3 (although kinda Black Ops 2.5)
- People are tired of CoD

+weird generational transition where last gen players aren't buying stuff for their old consoles and new gen players don't have the adoption numbers to really pick up the slack

 

[Triggerhappytel]

I haven't played a CoD since MW3 in 2011 so for me Advanced Warfare is coming out at a time I'm kind of wanting to try out a new CoD game.

I think a 2 or 3 year release schedule would really benefit a series like this to avoid saturation, but the trouble is that Activision can't go from annual releases to every two or three years as that would be leaving a potential annual $1 billion on the table, and shareholders would revolt. Maybe if they built up some other brands to take up the slack it would work for them, but as we've seen they're very slow to invest in anything new, and if it's not a success it's immediately taken out back with a shotgun.

 

[nsignific]

Ghosts on PC was horrid.

I can't believe I bought that shit. I had to use 3rd party apps to even get it playable (FOV). Didn't play it much anyway.

 

[MrCookiepants]

Activision knows CoD is slowly dying. They're prepared. Soon, CoD will be to Destiny what Medal of Honour is to Battlefield.

I work at a very popular game retailer

Spoiler

Gamestop

and I can tell you that this report is bullshit. The numbers in our region alone are almost double compared to Ghosts

 

[firehawk12]

Ghosts poisoned the fucking well.

 

[One4U]

Don't blame to AW, but blame to Ghosts. Ghosts hurt the franchise.

 

[Argonomic]

No surprise at all—every series has its peak and it's clear COD is on the wrong side of it. We know this, and Activision knows it, which is why their new darling franchise just sold $500m in it's opening week.

500m is the amount of product shipped. Not sold.

 

[Chris1]

I won't speculate on a titanfall sequel, but I want to speak to the idea of game vs game momentum. It's something that has been touched on in this thread in regards to mw3.

It takes several iterations for a game to reach cod or gta levels of mass market penetration. There are not 25-30 million core gamers on console that have similar enough tastes.

For a game to hit those numbers, you need several good games in a row. Each good game gets more people telling their friends to buy it, which feeds into the success of the next one.

Modern cod's falling preorders don't stem from genre fatigue, and it's not just ghosts. It started with mw3 and bo2. That was the first time since the mid 2000s that the series went two games in a row without a 90+ rated game. That is when the franchise began to lose momentum.

If AW and BO3 are great, then they may sell worse, but actually build positive momentum that ends up floating the 2016 and 2017 games.

Yeah I agree with that, but I don't think AW/BO3 will save Ghosts2 or whatever they call it, even if they are 10/10 games. Ghosts just left a really bad taste in peoples mouth and I don't think that will go away after two good Cods, all of my friends are already planning to avoid IW's next game and most of them buy CoD blindly each year and I think the same goes for most people here judging by the response.

I don't think TF will completely kill CoD, but what I meant was that if TF2 were to be released around the time ghosts2 is it could attract those who play nothing but CoD each year but won't be buying ghosts2 because of how bad the first was for their yearly FPS fix and possibly convert them over to for life. Whereas if it was released competing with BO3 then no doubt that should be a good game, so those guys would just stick to CoD for their yearly FPS fix and not bother looking elsewhere.

 

[WGMBY]

I don't know if it speaks worse on COD: AW or COD: Ghosts for preceding it so poorly (quality wise)?

I haven't played through a COD game since MW2, but I actually like what I've seen so far of AW. It certainly looks like they are trying to mix up the gameplay more than the last few games

 

[SuperDowns]

Watch Advanced Warfare be a huge step forward for the genre/series and host the worst sales as well.

It will be like KISS learning how to play their instruments then losing the sold out concerts.

 

[PrimaNocta]

I won't buy this day 1 but I'll get it sometime before the end of the year or beginning of next year.

To many games to play this fall and COD is not at the top of the list.

 

[Nabs]

Ghosts on PC was horrid.

I can't believe I bought that shit. I had to use 3rd party apps to even get it playable (FOV). Didn't play it much anyway.

Hey, remember not to use that thing anymore. Not that you'll go back to it any time soon, but they now send out VAC bans for it. I wouldn't want you to mess up your Steam profile over such a shit game.

 

[TheSlySoul]

I figure Call of Duty would wind up the Guitar Hero route: milked to the point of dryness. Wonder what FPS franchise will take its place? It was Halo first, then CoD.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

I work at a very popular game retailer

Spoiler

Gamestop

and I can tell you that this report is bullshit. The numbers in our region alone are almost double compared to Ghosts

And I'm hearing from other people at same said retailer that it's way down.

 

[Waluigi]

Isn't this mainly due to the fact that it is a "Next Gen" game, and therefore not as many consumers own the console to get the game yet.

 

[MrDenny]

Isn't this mainly due to the fact that it is a "Next Gen" game, and therefore not as many consumers own the console to get the game yet.

It's on PS3 and XBOX 360 also.

 

[Florida_Man_5000]

I figure Call of Duty would wind up the Guitar Hero route: milked to the point of dryness. Wonder what FPS franchise will take its place? It was Halo first, then CoD.

GTA5 fps mode! jk..sort of

 

[The Shogun]

I work at a very popular game retailer

Spoiler

Gamestop

and I can tell you that this report is bullshit. The numbers in our region alone are almost double compared to Ghosts

I just saw this post.

This is a complete and utter fabrication. This person either does not work for the company or is a very low level employee pretending they have numbers that they don't have.

There is no region in the company that is double Ghosts. Nowhere even close.

 

[Ether_Snake]

Time to number the games again!

 

[Slackerchan]

Forgive me if this sounds cynical but what do you expect? People got hyped for Ghosts thanks to an ad campaign about "emotion" and "dogs you'll care about" coupled with enhanced graphics and next-gen gameplay. What did we end up getting? The most BS campaign in years and a multiplayer suite that was exceptionally lackluster.

People have a right to be skeptical. Once burned, twice shy.

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

You know I didn't even hate Ghosts but I do hate IW now.
The biggest problem with Ghosts was spawns(a problem that has been patched with every COD going back to W@W)
IW's last COD was the absolute worst with spawns till ghosts rolled in.

So what does IW do about it?
Freaking nothing, not one attempt to patch the spawns in 11 months.

 

[Mpl90]

What I could take from this is that the rumour about COD: AW's preorders being 1/4 of Ghosts back in August was actually real and being 50%/more than 50% down is all they can get despite a pretty relevant move, like the Day Zero edition.

 

[Matriox]

Granted I played Ghosts MP far more than I should have, I honestly didn't think it was that bad. First SP** I have ever played, also wasn't that bad IMO.Ghosts is byfar my least favorite CoD but I put more time into it than any other PS4 game so far, Diablo 3 is approaching quickly though. I never preorder CoD games but I have a feeling that this one will get sold after reviews hit the streets and word of mouth.

 

[Megatron]

I have a feeling that it's more just plain franchise fatigue. Black Ops 2 was fairly well received, and yet Ghosts was tracking less than it.

All popular franchises eventually run out of steam.

True, though as I recall, the company line at the time was pre orders were low for ghosts due to next Gen consoles.

 

[Aquamarine]

I work at a very popular game retailer

Spoiler

Gamestop

and I can tell you that this report is bullshit. The numbers in our region alone are almost double compared to Ghosts

I just saw this post.

This is a complete and utter fabrication. This person either does not work for the company or is a very low level employee pretending they have numbers that they don't have.

There is no region in the company that is double Ghosts. Nowhere even close.

Do you have corporate-level access to nationwide data?

Because localised data can be anecdotal depending on how narrow we're talking about.


I'm more inclined to believe you (The Shogun) just based on the facts that I've seen the decline in the IP throughout all sorts of metrics. It would be strange to see Advanced Warfare outperforming previous Call of Duty titles given natural franchise fatigue.

Maybe word of mouth post-launch *might* elevate it above Ghosts, but not right now.


If you (or anyone) can say anything about nationwide preorder trends, that would be fantastic. GameStop is the largest retailer tracked by NPD, so any nationwide report we could get from GameStop would be a big help in extrapolating trends.

 

[Mpl90]

Do you have corporate-level access to nationwide data?

Because localised data can be anecdotal depending on how narrow we're talking about.


I'm more inclined to believe you (The Shogun) just based on the facts that I've seen the decline in the IP throughout all sorts of metrics. It would be strange to see Advanced Warfare outperforming previous Call of Duty titles given natural franchise fatigue.

Maybe word of mouth post-launch *might* elevate it above Ghosts, but not right now.


If you (or anyone) can say anything about nationwide sales trends, that would be fantastic. GameStop is the largest retailer tracked by NPD, so any nationwide report we could get from GameStop would be a big help in extrapolating trends.

Now that I think about it, what are the splits for each major retailer in US? I remember you posted them in an NPD thread months ago, but who know where you posted it now...

 

[Aquamarine]

Now that I think about it, what are the splits for each major retailer in US? I remember you posted them in an NPD thread months ago, but who know where you posted it now...

*Percentages are based on retailer networks

So when I say "Wal-Mart" I mean:

1) All sales from the 4,311 Wal-Mart stores in the USA
2) All sales from walmart.com
3) All sales from the 621 Sam's Club stores in the USA
4) All sales from samsclub.com



NPD USA Retailer Marketshare, beginning of the 6th gen (approx. 2001):

1) Wal-Mart - 20%
2) Toys R Us - 14%
3) Best Buy - 11%
4) Babbage's / GameStop - 11%
5) Electronic Boutique - 10%
6) Target - 7%
----Top 6 comprise 73% of the USA market

NPD USA Retailer Marketshare, beginning of the 7th gen (approx. 2007):

1) GameStop - 25%
2) Wal-Mart - 24%
3) Best Buy - 14%
4) Target - 14%
5) Toys R Us - 4%
6) Circuit City - 3%
----Top 6 comprise 84% of the USA market

NPD USA Retailer Marketshare, beginning of the 8th gen (approx. 2013):

1) GameStop - 30%
2) Wal-Mart - 25%
3) Target - 15%
4) Best Buy - 12%
5) Amazon - 6%
6) Toys R Us - 1%
----Top 6 comprise 89% of the USA market

 

[Rogue_Ledr]

Ghosts was awful and I abandoned it pretty quick.

Same!

The game really brought the franchise down.

They need to do a lot of work to restore the franchise's goodwill.

 

[Cavalier]

Everyone bought destiny instead?

Destiny's MP is nowhere near fast and twitchy as COD's MP.

 

[oni-link]

Out of all the COD games that have been out the past few years, I'm actually excited about this one. I'm sure the hype will build up soon again once more gameplay vids start leaking.

Same here, though it might be a case of too little too late, even if the game is great a lot of the players coming off 7 years of CoD might not come back

 

[Bam Bam Baklava]

There's no good shooters left. Destiny was disappointing, COD is dead, Battlefield is at least momentarily no good with this Hardline nonsense.

Guess I'll just play sunset overdrive, mcc, and GTA this season.

 

[The Shogun]

Do you have corporate-level access to nationwide data?

Because localised data can be anecdotal depending on how narrow we're talking about.


I'm more inclined to believe you (The Shogun) just based on the facts that I've seen the decline in the IP throughout all sorts of metrics. It would be strange to see Advanced Warfare outperforming previous Call of Duty titles given natural franchise fatigue.

Maybe word of mouth post-launch *might* elevate it above Ghosts, but not right now.


If you (or anyone) can say anything about nationwide preorder trends, that would be fantastic. GameStop is the largest retailer tracked by NPD, so any nationwide report we could get from GameStop would be a big help in extrapolating trends.

I have access to a very large selection of numbers. I'm not going to go into details here but will give possibly a few things in PMs.

But anyone claiming a region is double Ghosts is straight up wrong, even though things change from region to region. For perspective a "region" of our company isn't small its 100+ stores over a large are of landmass.

 

[cakely]

My first thought was "That's because it's only on current-gen platforms" but, wow COD:AW is a cross-gen game?

I wonder if people were pre-ordering Ghosts last year just because it was a PS4/XBO launch title.

 

[Amir0x]

I have access to a very large selection of numbers. I'm not going to go into details here but will give possibly a few things in PMs.

But anyone claiming a region is double Ghosts is straight up wrong, even though things change from region to region. For perspective a "region" of our company isn't small its 100+ stores over a large are of landmass.

*adds Shogun to list of posters to read sales reports from*

 

[IceDoesntHelp]

That's a shame, cause AW looks good.

Ghosts really fucked up.

 

[AmaterasuOni]

Good! Maybe it's time the devs start thinking about their annual copy-paste methods. I'm still amazed how well these Call of Battlefields sell.

 

[Aquamarine]

Good! Maybe it's time the devs start thinking about their annual copy-paste methods. I'm still amazed how well these Call of Battlefields sell.

It's not good for the industry through, because it disincentivizes future investments in big IP.

Call of Duty's rampant success helped greenlight projects.

Call of Duty's crash and burn makes publishers wary, even if you can write some of it off as franchise fatigue...it raises questions about the viability of FPS games in the current market.

 

[Matriox]

My first thought was "That's because it's only on current-gen platforms" but, wow COD:AW is a cross-gen game?

I wonder if people were pre-ordering Ghosts last year just because it was a PS4/XBO launch title.

Ghosts was the first CoD title I preordered, I forgot about that, and yeah it was specifically because I wanted it to arrive with my console. Applies to me atleast.

 

[theprodigy]

It's not good for the industry through, because it disincentivizes future investments in big IP.

Call of Duty's rampant success helped greenlight projects.

Call of Duty's crash and burn makes publishers wary, even if you can write some of it off as franchise fatigue...it raises questions about the viability of FPS games in the current market.

I'm sure some people would cheer for that too

edit: see it didn't take long at all!

I have access to a very large selection of numbers. I'm not going to go into details here but will give possibly a few things in PMs.

But anyone claiming a region is double Ghosts is straight up wrong, even though things change from region to region. For perspective a "region" of our company isn't small its 100+ stores over a large are of landmass.

hmm didn't you claim Destiny did over 1 million in Gamestop alone in 24 hours over NA?

eh well probably PM you

 

[Nintendojitsu]

It's not good for the industry through, because it disincentivizes future investments in big IP.

Call of Duty's rampant success helped greenlight projects.

Call of Duty's crash and burn makes publishers wary, even if you can write some of it off as franchise fatigue...it raises questions about the viability of FPS games in the current market.

This sounds more of a positive than a negative.

 

[AmaterasuOni]

It's not good for the industry through, because it disincentivizes future investments in big IP.

Call of Duty's rampant success helped greenlight projects.

Call of Duty's crash and burn makes publishers wary, even if you can write some of it off as franchise fatigue...it raises questions about the viability of FPS games in the current market.

I still don't get it as these games feel so dated. I'm pretty sure they already made their impact to the scene and it might be time to just move on to some new, fresh things.

Or maybe it's just me who is burnt out. Dunno. I just don't care about these anymore. And what I read, even most players go from enthusiastic joy to depression within a month after the release. Every time, every iteration seems to dissappoint the gamers.

 

[Ghost_Messiah]

It's just too many games released at too fast a rate that is fatiguing gamers and generating consumer apathy. Seriously look at the games released this/last generation:

Call of Duty 2
Call of Duty 3
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Call of Duty: World at War
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Call of Duty: Ghosts
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

10 games over the space of 9 years (2005 - 2014) all released in the same generation. You could argue Ghosts and AW are next generation but not really since they're cross gen and still being released for the 360/PS3 and to the last gen install base. If you think about it it's not even an annual franchise when you work out the average; it's a faster than annual franchise.

At least with Halo there was a level of hype and slow-building excitement to every game because there was sufficient time that passed before each release.

Add that to the overall decline in series quality over the years and this news is perfectly expected and understandable.

 

[1337]

Probably the only one here who enjoyed Ghosts quite a bit. Put buying it off because of all the negativity surrounding the game. The multiplayer and especially my favourite type of mode (domination) were great. Did not touch the SP, so can't really judge that.

AW looks good to me, but probably won't get it right away due to Destiny and Halo MCC.

 

[Nintendont]

People are just waiting for Treyarch's biblical masterpiece in 2015.

 

[Nintendojitsu]

It's just too many games released at too fast a rate that is fatiguing gamers and generating consumer apathy. Seriously look at the games released this/last generation:

Call of Duty 2
Call of Duty 3
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Call of Duty: World at War
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Call of Duty: Ghosts
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

10 games over the space of 9 years (2005 - 2014) all released in the same generation. You could argue Ghosts and AW are next generation but not really since they're cross gen and still being released for the 360/PS3 and to the last gen install base. If you think about it it's not even an annual franchise when you work out the average; it's a faster than annual franchise.

At least with Halo there was a level of hype and slow-building excitement to every game because there was sufficient time that passed before each release.

Add that to the overall decline in series quality over the years and this news is perfectly expected and understandable.

As mentioned elsewhere in the thread, this was bound to happen. The constant releases of Guitar Hero hurt the chances of DJ Hero, an actual good product that suffered because of past mistakes.