Activision Newest call-of-duty effort, pioneer, without a good start in life. Earlier this year, it was reported that the game sold 36% fewer units than its predecessor, Black Ops Cold War, in the first few months of its release in the UK.
A report from GamesIndustry.biz shows that the game’s sales are down 40% year over year, and it’s even interesting that there has been less coverage and chatter about Vanguard than any CoD game in the past 10 years.
Still, a new annual report from Activision points out that Vanguard’s lower-than-expected sales are due to the game’s lack of innovation…and the World War II setting that didn’t land players more accustomed to the Modern Warfare aesthetic.
“While Call of Duty remains one of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time, our 2021 premium release fell short of our expectations, which we believe is largely due to our own execution. [Vanguard]The WWII background didn’t resonate with some of our community, and we didn’t deliver as much innovation in the premium game as we’d like. “
Of course, the game also goes up against some of the other pretty major FPS players in the space — both Battlefield 2042 and Halo: Infinite (and Activision’s own free-to-play title, Call of Duty: Warzone) all eat up potential audience for the game. Plus, with the series’ annual games rolling out like clockwork over the past 16 years, maybe consumers are getting a little tired of the series?
It might be a good thing, then, that rumours about the series developers eager for Call of Duty to drop its annual release schedule seem to have some effect on them.
Maybe it’s going to be the writing on the wall for companies like Bob’s Toys, Beenox, Demonware, High Moon Studios, Radical Entertainment, and Vicarious Visions to get out of the Call of Duty content mine and return to other non-CoD projects? Headline studios like Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer Games could theoretically spend longer on development cycles without the help of so many ancillary studios.
As for what’s next? Well, Activision thinks it has identified the issue for a 2021 release and won’t make the same mistake in 2022.This year’s title — Modern Warfare 2 — “will be the most advanced experience in franchise history,” and the publisher aims to “solve [setting and innovation] 2022 launch issue,” too.
Developed by Infinity Ward, the game is said to include a morality system, weapon glitches, and more – whether that’s what gamers really want to see in their Call of Duty games will become clear in time.