No Sign of Decline for Call of Duty
By Jared Newman | Friday, November 12, 2010 at 9:11 am
I’ve been trying to wrap my head around Call of Duty: Black Ops’ staggering sales, which outperformed every other game in the series on its first day and set records for the entertainment industry.
Activision’s claim of 5.6 million copies sold shouldn’t be a suprise, I suppose; last year, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 set entertainment records, with 4.7 million sales in the first day. Still, I didn’t expect Black Ops to come out on top. Treyarch, the studio that developed Black Ops and 2008’s Call of Duty: World at War, was living in the shadow of Infinity Ward, which developed both Modern Warfare games. Also, video game sales as a whole are on the decline this year, suggesting less fertile ground for a yearly refresh.
So why did Black Ops prevail? Simple: Call of Duty is the blockbuster first-person shooter that no other developer is making.
At its core, Black Ops is like any other Call of Duty — simple, twitchy, smooth, with loud guns and big explosions — but lately the series has become less of a war shooter and more personal, like an 80s action movie. Black Ops, and both Modern Warfare games, spend much of their time away from war zeones.
A few years ago, when everyone was doing war games with vaguely similar titles (Medal of Honor, Brothers in Arms, Call of Duty), Activision wisely changed direction with an emphasis on secret agents instead of foot soldiers. It even considered dropping the Call of Duty name from Modern Warfare 2. Criticize Activision, if you will, for spitting out the same fundamentals every year, but thematically, the series has grown far from its roots, and now has broader appeal than ever. The same isn’t true for other war shooters, like Medal of Honor.
What’s next? Call of Duty is at a major crossroads. There have been rumors of a massive multiplayer game, which would likely convert Call of Duty’s biggest fans into recurring subscriptions. Stranger still, Gamasutra reported a rumor that the series could go futuristic, with space marines. Those seem like logical expansions for Call of Duty, but until other publishers catch up with their own modern, blockbuster first-person shooters, Activision needn’t change its winning formula.
6 Comments
Read more:
6 Comments For This Post
November 12th, 2010 at 11:34 am
The real concern for all of these type games should be the game hacking or use of third party cheats like AIMBOT which ruin the online play experience. Players who are new to these games are starting out at the top of the ranks just by hacking their game files. Xbox live keeps pointing back to the players to police their network after charging their subscribers to play. The future of online play does not look good.
November 12th, 2010 at 11:48 am
I think the reason sales of COD games are so high is due to the appeal to older players. I am 50 and I noticed that when I stood in line at Walmart to get my copy of this game I was among a peer group around the same age.
November 12th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Interesting. Why do you think COD is appealing to you as an older player, compared to other games?
November 12th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
Today my Algebra teacher was talking about an algebraic principle and how you have to work down before you can work up.
"It's like Chutes and Ladders" she said, "Of course, most of you probably don't know what that game is; all you know is Black Ops"
November 15th, 2010 at 10:53 am
Shooters are still the main focus of games for hardcore gamers I think. It is really suprising thus how few of them are really good. the COD series is one of the good ones -> it will always sell.
November 1st, 2011 at 4:29 pm
was his writen by an employee of activision? lol cod games suck, its the same thing every year, and what do they mean "the series has grown far from its roots, and now has broader appeal than ever. The same isn’t true for other war shooters, like Medal of Honor." are you kidding, at least medal of honor changed their gameplay! lol its pathetic how people still buy these games, go buy an older version for 15 dollars, the gameplay is the exact same, theyre less change very year in cod than in sports games!