Report: Call of Duty retail sales fall for third straight year

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Following yesterday's NPD report, Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Olson points out that retail sales for the Call of Duty series have declined by 27 percent year-over-year.

This is not isolated news, either. The Call of Duty series has posted slumping sales in each of the past three years. While Activision's military shooters manage to sell well compared to other games the franchise is unable to reach the heights it once saw. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare currently tops the NPD sales chart, but as Games Industry notes, this entry attracted less than half the first month sales of 2011's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

Earlier this year, analysts at Cowen And Company pointed out that alongside declining sales, the Call of Duty games are also attracting declining pre-orders, with Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare drawing nearly 40 percent fewer retail pre-purchases than its predecessor.

Activision claims that Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is the highest selling digital launch in console history but Olson does not believe that digital sales (which these analysts are not privy to) can entirely soften the blow of the retail sales slide. "NPD data does not include digital copies or international sales, which, if included, would lessen the year-over-year decline, but we believe this data suggests potential for Q4 revenue upside is now very low," Olson stated.



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Related Forum: Call of Duty Forum

Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2014/12/12/report-call-of-duty-retail-sales-fall-for-third-straight-year/

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"Report: Call of Duty retail sales fall for third straight year" :: Login/Create an Account :: 98 comments

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NicknKicknPosted:

Not surprised, with the lack of innovation as far as Call of Duty goes, other games such as Destiny, Titanfall, etc that have a sci-fi type feel have been taking the cake.

Imo, Call of Duty has been dying since Black Ops 1.


Nick

SagePosted:

Well i was hopeing that advanced warfare would turn it around but i still think AW is better than ghosts.

IceSicklePosted:

Not surprised series are not supposed to last forever.

BackbonePosted:

I'm not surprised to be honest. The article compares sales to mw3 which only sold well because mw2 was such a great game people though the sequel would be just as good (little did they know) however now I honestly think unless the find something that really relights cods fire I think they're just gonna fade away at some point because some people said they want cod to do something new and different, which AW did but still doesn't live up to people's expactations, some people want a normal FPS but then people say all the cods are the same, so they can't win really. But now most of the sales are based on people just buying the game 'just because it's cod' such as you buy your yearly xbl you buy the yearly cod. So as we see each cod not living up to what people want from it the sales will keep falling. I think if they did what halo have done and release a collection it would sell millions. But until they come to their sense and do that in the mean time they need to start making games that the majority of people play and think 'yes this is actually pretty good'

Jayden-Posted:

It honestly doesn't surprise me. I haven't purchased a Call of Duty game since Black Ops 2. From what I hear, they just get worse and worse.

platyuiPosted:

JRMH
DeluxeHazard Call of Duty is just a copy and paste game. It is obvious that the game will decline and the same will happen next year.


Treyarch's games are good. Infinity Wards and Sledgehammer's aren't, obviously


*new Infinity Ward. They made the best CODs up until they shit out MW3.

JRMHPosted:

DeluxeHazard Call of Duty is just a copy and paste game. It is obvious that the game will decline and the same will happen next year.


Treyarch's games are good. Infinity Wards and Sledgehammer's aren't, obviously

DeluxeHazardPosted:

Call of Duty is just a copy and paste game. It is obvious that the game will decline and the same will happen next year.

PryzelPosted:

Well physical sales are gone down but digital game downloads are higher, so it could more than or equal to previous years, most people I know have it digitally anyway. Much prefer digitally myself aswell.

PZ7Posted:

Merchandise
Kimbrel
FreshEgoKid I just want a snipers only game type pretty please activison?


Worst idea for a cod game that I've heard in a long time


Are you on high? Lets get all these "trickshotters" and "feeders" outta ffa and give them their on playlist


Make a FFA mode with no snipers, problem solved


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