Call of Duty 2013 sales expected to fall short of Black Ops 2

This year's Call of Duty game is expected to fall short of the lofty sales figures of Black Ops 2. While little is known about Call of Duty 10, Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg told investors today that the game will be shipping Q4 this year.

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This year's Call of Duty game is expected to fall short of the lofty sales figures of Black Ops 2. While little is known about Call of Duty 10, Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg told investors today that the game will be shipping Q4 this year, meaning the franchise has not missed a single year since its debut in 2003.

Hirshberg argues that the lowered expectations for this year's game isn't necessarily from brand fatigue. Instead, the "ongoing console transition" is giving the company reason for a more conservative estimate. It's unknown if this year's Call of Duty game will be available on next-gen consoles--or if next-gen consoles will even be available by year's end.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    February 7, 2013 3:00 PM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Call of Duty 2013 sales expected to fall short of Black Ops 2.

    This year's Call of Duty game is expected to fall short of the lofty sales figures of Black Ops 2. While little is known about Call of Duty 10, Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg told investors today that the game will be shipping Q4 this year.

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      February 7, 2013 3:08 PM

      Call of Duty 10: Madden Warfare

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      February 7, 2013 3:17 PM

      I honestly stop caring about this franchise after call of duty MW 2 I didn't buy Black ops 2 and I don't plan on buying the next title. I think i've grown quite bored of the call of duties =(

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        February 7, 2013 3:56 PM

        I think we pretty much hit the oversaturation of the military shooter genre similar to what happened with the glut of WW2 games several years back. There really isn't anything that hasn't been done to death. Would be nice if Scifi shooters besides Halo came back.

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          February 7, 2013 8:18 PM

          Heh, I got sick of the CoD series back around "World At War" nevermind the Modern Warfare installments. I don't think any of them entertained me anywhere near as much as playing the multiplayer of the United Offensive expansion pack for the very first game in the series.

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          February 8, 2013 5:34 AM

          it will probally go back to WW2 games after the modern warfare gets tired out

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            February 8, 2013 8:07 AM

            [deleted]

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              February 11, 2013 7:56 AM

              Agreed. I think its because mainly the classes of weapons end up feeling the same. All SMG's feel roughly the same, the only thing that differs is the scopes. Ive played entire rounds just picking up other weapons to see what they played like, and they all feel bland.

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        February 8, 2013 5:55 AM

        it's a battlefield year!

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          February 8, 2013 6:04 AM

          I'm digging Battlefield 3 more than ever. It's a lot of fun on a server that mixes all the maps and game modes so you're always something slightly different. I always got burned out super fast doing the same thing over and over.

          Looking forward to the return of CTF in the next pack, too.

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      February 7, 2013 4:12 PM

      I can definitely say I won't be buying another one if they don't implement some sort of dedicated servers. BF3 does it fine, but this hosting crap on BLOPS2 is the absolute worst. There's no rhyme or reason to it, sometimes you'll have an awesome connection, and others you're in the red and your screen is stuttering like crazy. Not sinking another $60 into a game that has that happen so often.

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        February 8, 2013 6:33 AM

        I feel the same way to some extent. The hosting in this game is by far the worst in the entire series.

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          February 8, 2013 6:45 AM

          On the PC it's possibly the best of the series, aside from the lack of players. Standard CoD matchmaking onto dedicated servers. I've seen no significant lag, no hiccups, no dropped connections, and obviously zero host migration. Very little hacking either.

          The lack of players is probably how they can justify the cost of running the few servers they do for the PC. Covering all the 360 and PS3 users would take a lot more hardware and resources. It should be demanded though. They could subsidize it with elite subscriptions and DLC purchases.

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      February 7, 2013 5:33 PM

      at some point the numbers for call of duty have to plateau... they can't increase indefinately ... (just like housing cost couldn't)

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      February 7, 2013 6:26 PM

      I actually like the MW series and am less of a fan of BlOps

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      February 7, 2013 6:35 PM

      I will buy any COD game with zombies in it.

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      February 8, 2013 4:34 AM

      Long live the 14 year olds who still buy call of duty games.

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        February 8, 2013 4:38 AM

        Long live stupid ass generalizations like these. I've bought every COD at the age of 32, and I know plenty of gamers who do so as well. If you want a well produced, high adrenaline military shooter roller coaster there simple isn't a better alternative out there. I haven't played much of the MP, but from what I understand, it's certainly not the worst of the bunch in its genre either, perhaps outside of the community.

        You don't reach sales figures like these by catering only to teenagers.

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          February 8, 2013 5:39 AM

          I don't understand buying CoD for single player only. It's gotten to the point where one mission in "Yep, it's this shit again" The MP is addictive, but even that waned on me. While they are solid games, they need to be spaced out because the campaigns have no effect on me anymore.

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            February 8, 2013 5:47 AM

            They still work for me, while I admit I've gotten less out of the couple last ones than I did out of the previous ones. Each one of them has had a few "woah" moments for me, and I don't mind the scripting one bit. Certainly they could be better, but they're worth their price to me, especially since I usually play the coop bits with a friend at some point as well, which I failed to mention in my previous post.

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        February 8, 2013 5:30 AM

        I am 40.

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        February 8, 2013 5:57 AM

        i'm 30 and i got it because it's an easy game to just pick up and play with a group of friends/shackers online. most other MP games that are out, nobody plays past the first month or 2 of release but when you pick up a CoD game, you know people are going to be playing it for maybe up to the next release.

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        February 8, 2013 6:35 AM

        I'm 30, and have purchased every game since 3. I play purely for MP, which I find to be extremely enjoyable and competitive. The addition of league play makes it even more so, with matches that actually make you sweat a bit.

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        February 8, 2013 8:20 AM

        I am 30 and I play COD games and I know probably a dozen people who are 25+ who play. I think I know of one kid who is young that plays COD because he plays with his dad.

        COD seems to have the same incorrect age generalizations as MTG these days.

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      February 8, 2013 5:53 AM

      I can't believe it's up to 10*. For me, this is like when you hear about how some Hollywood star is alive that you could have *sworn* died years ago. Or vice versa.

      *Not a judgement on the game itself.

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      February 8, 2013 6:16 AM

      LMFAO.
      This is the funniest news I've read all day.
      Activision is already putting it out there that they expect sales to "dip", so as it doesn't take anyone by surprise.
      Guess when you make $500 million across ALL platforms and not just Xbox, you know shit is hitting the fan.
      Nice way to spin it Activision.

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      February 8, 2013 6:22 AM

      If CoD 10 is a full on next-gen title, is it still big enough to be a console seller?

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        February 8, 2013 7:17 AM

        I'd be onboard if the next Battlefield game was only on the new consoles. CoD, not so much.

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        February 8, 2013 8:08 AM

        Yes, because the graphics of CoD has been stagnant and behind other AAAA games. So they'll get a bump from a "next-gen" version. And then another bump two years later when they actually make a next-gen version.

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        February 8, 2013 8:21 AM

        yes, but it'll never happen.

        60(ish)fps + good netcode + yearly releases = no engine changes. ever. q3 for life yo.

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          February 9, 2013 5:00 PM

          you say that like it's a bad thing...

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