Like so many other big name games in an industry that can’t keep
secrets anymore, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare has stumbled into the
spotlight. There were a few planned teasers released yesterday via a VICE video, viral audio recording and Game Informer screenshot, but the trickle soon turned into a flood as Destructoid published a whole slew of photos and a leaked trailer to boot.
Activision was forced to throw in the towel and release the official trailer late last night, and the plot of Sledgehammer’s first Call of Duty was revealed. The game will focus on a Private Military Company (PMC) that goes toe to toe with the federal government. The group is led by a Kevin Spacey mo-cap character who appears to be playing a sort of anti-Frank Underwood, determined to bring the system down rather than rise up within it.
The question isn’t whether or not Advanced Warfare will be a hit. Even a “low” selling Call of Duty game is miles above most of its competition. Rather, we need to see if Sledgehammer’s first game will be able to reverse the recent downward sales trend of the series.
According to what data we have available to us, Call of Duty as a series peaked in 2011 with the record breaking Modern Warfare 3. After that, Black Ops 2 sold a little less. And then after that, Call of Duty: Ghosts sold quite a bit less indeed. While Modern Warfare 3 appears to have sold about 29 million copies at retail, Ghosts, across its last and current gen platforms, only sold about 12.5 million using the same metrics. Even if you don’t trust those numbers, even giving the game a few million bonus copies due to unrevealed digital sales, the gulf is still wide and the trend still apparent.
How does Advanced Warfare reverse this current? Can it?
I believe so. There are a number of factors working in its favor, ones that will likely at least allow it to sell better than Ghosts.
Ghosts was a tricky case because the game was released across a whole host of different platforms, namely both Microsoft’s Xbox 360/One and Sony’s PS3/PS4. The game came out right as both Xbox One and PS4 were debuting, which technically made it a launch title, but the majority of its audience was still playing on last-gen systems. This split the market in weird ways that hadn’t been seen in practically a decade. Most viewed the game as a last-gen title upconverted for the new systems, but Advanced Warfare is a game clearly made specifically for Xbox One and PS4. No doubt there will be PS3 and Xbox 360 versions as well, as those markets are still huge, but far, far more people will own both new systems this time around, and know immediately which console they’ll be purchasing it for.
In terms of competition, fall is always loaded with massive games, and Call of Duty will have to go up against powerhouses like Destiny at the end of 2014. But this year they won’t another Battlefield at least, which was far and away their most direct competition (even if sales were never close). Call of Duty was also probably worried that Titanfall would swoop in this year and steal its FPS thunder, especially given that it was being made by the creators of the original Modern Warfare, Vince Zampella and Jason West. While the game was well reviewed and sold decently (we think, at least), it hasn’t quite proven to be the gamechanger many predicted, at least not yet. Ahead of release, Titanfall felt like the new guard that had the potentially to officially end the era of Call of Duty. Now? Titanfall was a good game, but Call of Duty still feels relevant and highly anticipated. I think the games drought has been so pronounced this year for new consoles, that seeing a One/PS4 Call of Duty trailer like this will stir something in many bored gamers.
Activision was forced to throw in the towel and release the official trailer late last night, and the plot of Sledgehammer’s first Call of Duty was revealed. The game will focus on a Private Military Company (PMC) that goes toe to toe with the federal government. The group is led by a Kevin Spacey mo-cap character who appears to be playing a sort of anti-Frank Underwood, determined to bring the system down rather than rise up within it.
The question isn’t whether or not Advanced Warfare will be a hit. Even a “low” selling Call of Duty game is miles above most of its competition. Rather, we need to see if Sledgehammer’s first game will be able to reverse the recent downward sales trend of the series.
According to what data we have available to us, Call of Duty as a series peaked in 2011 with the record breaking Modern Warfare 3. After that, Black Ops 2 sold a little less. And then after that, Call of Duty: Ghosts sold quite a bit less indeed. While Modern Warfare 3 appears to have sold about 29 million copies at retail, Ghosts, across its last and current gen platforms, only sold about 12.5 million using the same metrics. Even if you don’t trust those numbers, even giving the game a few million bonus copies due to unrevealed digital sales, the gulf is still wide and the trend still apparent.
How does Advanced Warfare reverse this current? Can it?
I believe so. There are a number of factors working in its favor, ones that will likely at least allow it to sell better than Ghosts.
Ghosts was a tricky case because the game was released across a whole host of different platforms, namely both Microsoft’s Xbox 360/One and Sony’s PS3/PS4. The game came out right as both Xbox One and PS4 were debuting, which technically made it a launch title, but the majority of its audience was still playing on last-gen systems. This split the market in weird ways that hadn’t been seen in practically a decade. Most viewed the game as a last-gen title upconverted for the new systems, but Advanced Warfare is a game clearly made specifically for Xbox One and PS4. No doubt there will be PS3 and Xbox 360 versions as well, as those markets are still huge, but far, far more people will own both new systems this time around, and know immediately which console they’ll be purchasing it for.
In terms of competition, fall is always loaded with massive games, and Call of Duty will have to go up against powerhouses like Destiny at the end of 2014. But this year they won’t another Battlefield at least, which was far and away their most direct competition (even if sales were never close). Call of Duty was also probably worried that Titanfall would swoop in this year and steal its FPS thunder, especially given that it was being made by the creators of the original Modern Warfare, Vince Zampella and Jason West. While the game was well reviewed and sold decently (we think, at least), it hasn’t quite proven to be the gamechanger many predicted, at least not yet. Ahead of release, Titanfall felt like the new guard that had the potentially to officially end the era of Call of Duty. Now? Titanfall was a good game, but Call of Duty still feels relevant and highly anticipated. I think the games drought has been so pronounced this year for new consoles, that seeing a One/PS4 Call of Duty trailer like this will stir something in many bored gamers.
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