Call of Duty 2010 'not expected to hit 2009 highs'

Wed 10 Feb 2010 10:20pm GMT / 5:20pm EST / 2:20pm PST
GamesPublishing

But Activision still bullish on hopes, despite expectation of stronger competition than last year

Activision Blizzard

Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Blizzard, Inc. is a worldwide pure-play online...

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While last year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 broke all manner of sales records when it launched, and became Activision Blizzard's third billion-dollar game in the space of two years, the company is not expecting quite the same level of success this year as the franchise swings over to a Treyarch-developed game.

According to publishing boss Mike Griffith, the company has "not planned on repeating the same level of success on this year's title," partly because of tougher competition expected in the run-up to Christmas - but with the rise in exposure to new players of the franchise overall, the company is "bullish" on both performance and quality for the title.

Meanwhile a number of other Activision titles were outlined for calendar 2010 releases, including a Guitar Hero game and DJ Hero 2 - despite a weakening in the music game genre.

Additionally an additional Tony Hawk title is slated for release, utilising the skateboard peripheral, with Griffith admitting that "ratings not as high as we'd hoped for" on last year's game - but he did hint that the peripheral "could potentially have different applications in the future."

Finally, on the Activision business side, new games in the James Bond and Spiderman franchises will follow later this year.

8 Comments

Jake

Kotick sold stocks a long time ago so he had to be expecting this to happen soon. New Super Mario Bros Wii already broke MW2 records.

Posted:3 years ago

#1

Christopher Bowen
Owner, Gaming Bus

So basically, what they're saying is that they're going to run CoD into the ground the way they almost killed the entire music game genre?

Posted:3 years ago

#2

Stephen McCarthy
Studying Games Technology

Kingston University

Tony Hawk is acting like a kid now , He hated people who said his skateboard thing was bad. And he only adds people on Xbox who have the game.

Posted:3 years ago

#3

Richard DeBarry

IW screwed up MW2 pretty bad so I can see why they aren't expecting as big of numbers. But I'm actually looking forward to Treyarch's game, hopefully they do a better job.

Posted:3 years ago

#4

Sergio Hidalgo
graphic designer/animator

I have to agree with you Rich, IW really dropped the ball with this installment of C.O.D.. The game is going on 3 months out and so many glitches that have plagued the game, I am sure it has turned a few people away form it. Modern Warfare 2 is a good game and has potential to be great, but it needs to be fixed.

Now Treyarch, they surpassed every aspect with World at War. Held great community communications, fixes to glitches were done in a proper time frame, 3 DLC, I could go on and on.

I am a fan of the C.O.D. series no matter who makes it, while Treyarch's game might not surpass IW's success on Launch, I can guarantee that it will do great.

Posted:3 years ago

#5

Jim Webb
Executive Editor/Community Director

E-mpire Ltd. Co.

I also have to give Treyarch credit for what they've done on Wii. Many in the industry didn't even believe what they were trying to do was possible on Wii.

I believe they are as or at least almost as good as IW but they have to deal with the stigmata of WWII settings which have turned off a lot of gamers.

Posted:3 years ago

#6

Albert Schmidt
Game News Reporter

I was very let down by both the PS3 and 360 version of MW2. The reduced native resolution they used in order to reach the 60fps mark was not a good move for them. What fans have wanted was a great looking game. What was really delivered was a on-par MW1 game with a single-player campaign that punched you in the gut, and before you knew it.....was over. As far as the MP goes, well it's great run and gun fun, but get's boring rather quickly. I think Activision as a whole needs to step back and stop trying to sell the name of a IP but actually develop and expand it more.

Posted:3 years ago

#7

Jack Ryan

To be honest, i've never enjoyed a Call of Duty made by Treyarch as much as I have the CoD before it made by Infinity Ward. I loved CoD2 but hated CoD3, adored CoD4 and was so-so on CoD5 (The way they created enemy advancements in Singleplayer was the most annoying aspect, respawning enemies just made Veteran practically impossible. I'm still on the last level now!) So I don't see why it shouldn't be any different with the next CoD Treyarch make. However, I am hoping the MoH reboot will fill the CoD gap this year - there's usually something that does.

Posted:3 years ago

#8

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