Call of Duty: Ghosts might have been the best-selling game in November, but that doesn’t mean it’s a true success for everyone involved. The massive first-person shooter was down 19 percent year-over-year compared to Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, according to market-analysis firm Cowen & Company.
Activision didn’t exactly expect the game to break records, as the publisher warned investors that numbers would likely be lower than what we saw in 2012. However, a new report from analyst Doug Creutz reveals that the actual figures are worse than most people expected.
“Upon further reflection, we think the [Call of Duty] numbers are a bit more troubling than they first appeared,” Creutz wrote (via Games Beat). “While the year-over-year gap is only 19 percent thus far, that includes two extra weeks of sales for the 360 and PS3 versions [of Black Ops II]. Against 2011′s [Modern Warfare 3], where the difference is only one week, the title is down 32 percent life-to-date.”
With the game releasing on both last and current-generation consoles, these numbers are a bit startling. You'd expect bigger sales due to the greater number of platforms, but the outlook for Ghosts' lifetime sales isn’t very pretty.
“We don’t think it is out of the question that the title could wind up comparing down 20 percent to 25 percent year-over-year, which is appreciably worse than the down 10 to 15 percent that we think is baked in to guidance.”
Could this be the end of an era, or just a stumble by the video-game giant? Only time will tell.
