14 DAY TRIAL // The Call of Duty series is showing signs of fatigue, and the upcoming Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is expected to take a hit because of it, being projected to sell three million copies less than its predecessor, Call of Duty: Ghosts.
Sterne Agee analyst Arving Bhatia expects Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare to ship up to 15 percent less units until the end of the year, translating into around 17 million copies instead of the initial projection of 20 million units sold.
The ghost of Call of Duty past
Call of Duty: Ghosts sold over $1 billion / €0.8 billion to retail outlets in its first 24 hours, which is a massive achievement and speaks to the momentum of the franchise. Granted, the figure does not represent actual sales to customers, and Call of Duty: Ghosts was panned by both critics and fans of the series as one of the weakest in a franchise that's growing increasingly stale.
Nonetheless, the lukewarm reception that Ghosts got combined with the annual installments in the Call of Duty franchise are starting to fatigue the user base, a tendency which Bhatia expects to impact Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare sales, unless, of course, the game turns out to be every bit as great as developer Sledgehammer Games is bragging.
Bhatia revealed to CinemaBlend that he expected players to hold off on purchasing Advanced Warfare until all the reviews were out and player reports showed whether the game was worth the investment. He further forecast that 2014 would see a sharp decline in PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 sales, with both platforms seeing half the action they did over the course of 2013.
Consumer indecision about upgrading to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One home consoles might also be a factor against cross-gen titles such as Advanced Warfare, the analyst added.
The undead cyborgs of Call of Duty future
The game, however, is setting out to break any expectations, coming in with a slew of exciting gameplay features due to its futuristic settings, as well as a star-studded acting cast and a gripping story that goes beyond painting a target on some generic bad guys.
Activision's next entry in the military first-person shooter series might actually perform better than Ghosts, due to the fact that Battlefield Hardline, its direct competitor, has been delayed to 2015.
The only other entry in a big shooter franchise that's coming out this year is Halo: The Master Chief Collection, which is an Xbox One exclusive remaster of older games, making it less likely to have a significant influence on Advanced Warfare's sales total.
In addition to this, the hype surrounding the sci-fi additions that Sledgehammer Games is bringing to the series and the exciting single-player and multiplayer gameplay showed so far paint a bright picture for the first-person shooter.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is scheduled to come out on November 4 worldwide, headed to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 home consoles from Sony, the Xbox 360 and Xbox One entertainment systems from Microsoft, and PC.
