Although it currently sits at the top of the NPD sales chart, Activision’s Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is just not selling as well as its predecessors.
According to NPD reports and Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Olson, the Call of Duty series has witnessed a slide in sales – 27 percent over the past three years. To compare, Advanced Warfare sold less than half of the first-month units of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in November 2011.
Not only were the first-month sales down from the past few years; Advanced Warfare saw pre-order numbers dwindle by 40 percent, not coming close to the record numbers set by previous installments.
Activision states that Advanced Warfare was the highest-selling digital launch in console history. There were certainly a lot of people that pre-loaded the game before its release, but Olson says that the digital sales are not likely to compensate entirely for the loss in retail sales:
“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.”
Perhaps it is time for Activision to consider an honorable discharge for its Call of Duty franchise – or, at the very least, separating the newer installments by more than 12 months.
Source – Joystiq
