Speaking to investors, Activision confirmed that sales for Call of Duty: Ghosts are down in comparison to the last entry in the series, Black Ops II. This is not exactly surprising, as many suspected this was the case when the company released sell-in numbers for the game yesterday instead of concrete sales figures.
The reason for the below expected numbers, according to Activision, is the upcoming console transition. They might have a point too, as sales for both Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and Battlefield 4 have also been under-performing.
“As we have said for more than a year now, console transition years are volatile and hard to predict, and this year is proving no different,” said Activision.
Though I have no doubt that the console transition is contributing to the lower than expected sales, I think that there’s also another factor at play here. All of the titles mentioned above are sequels in long-running franchises and while they aren’t bad games by any means, I think that people are just getting sick of playing yet another Battlefield or yet another Call of Duty. You can only stretch these series so far and at this stage, I wouldn’t be surprised if people are clamouring for more new IPs. I know I am.
What do you think? Are the low sales figures for Call of Duty: Ghosts a result of the next-gen transition or are people just tired of the series?