Activision says slow preorder rates for Call of Duty: Ghosts is to be expected during a “console transition year.”
We all know that Call of Duty: Ghosts is going to be one of the biggest – probably the biggest – game of the year, even though it won’t be out until November. In an earnings call yesterday, however, Activision Publishing chief Eric Hirshberg admitted that preorders for the game are actually down compared to last year’s Black Ops 2 – but he also claimed that it’s not really a surprise
“As one might expect in this console transition year, pre-orders for Call of Duty: Ghosts are well below the record-setting pace set by Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 last year,” he said. “However, our quantitative consumer research indicates that hesitation amongst past club pre-orders is primarily due to not knowing which platform they will be playing on, which is natural at this time in the console transition.”
People aren’t sick of Call of Duty, in other words, they’re just not completely sold on the next generation of consoles – and who’s going to preorder a game without a commitment to a platform? Not that we need to shed too many tears for a crumbling franchise anyway, as Hirshberg said that other “key engagement metrics,” including daily and monthly players, DLC sales and video views, “are all significantly ahead of past years.”
Source: Eurogamer
