The upcoming game "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare" has been predicted to rake in fewer sales compared to last year's "Call of Duty: Ghosts."
According to research firm Sterne Agee, 2014 may not be an ideal year for the forthcoming game as they have estimated that "Advanced Warfare" may sell less than 20 million copies. Fans of the gaming series may not be as keen in getting their hands on the said game as its predecessor, "Ghosts," had been met with numerous negative reviews.
In particular, sales for the PlayStation 3 experienced a decline of 50 percent this year whereas Xbox 360 software sales were down by 46 percent. As such, these components are being considered as strong factors contributing to fewer pre-orders for "Advanced Warfare" as opposed to previous games in the "Call of Duty" lineup.
In another report, analyst Doug Cruetz from Cowen and Company has pointed out that games from the "Call of Duty" series often pull in $1 billion for Activision. However, 2013's "Ghosts" did not necessarily perform as good as "Black Ops II." As such, Cruetz suggested that the franchise may go through "a permanent decline" if the upcoming "Advanced Warfare" does not perform better than "Ghosts."
Nonetheless, speculations for the upcoming game have been said to be mainly positive, which may enable the game to do better than "Ghosts."
Based on their findings, Sterne Agee also emphasized that Activision, publisher of the "Call of Duty" series, has been favorably expanding its software, including "Destiny," "Hearthstone," and "Heroes of the Storm." The company has also made "Call of Duty Online" and "Diablo 3" widely available in China, which may significantly improve their performance.
A new trailer was recently unveiled for the upcoming game, putting forward the newest weapons for "Advanced Warfare" that is available in multi-player modes.
Developed by Sledgehammer Games, "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare" will be released for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One on Nov. 4.
