Call of Duty 2017 to go back to "boots on ground."

[Toxic34]

Activision's CEO just announced that sales of IW are down 50% from BO3. He stated that while the game is incredibly profitable, and they quickly moved about 12-14 million units since release, they failed to reach the targets they had set for February, and admitted that this is clearly due to enough naysayers refusing to consider buying a copy. "For some reason, the setting just didn't resonate. We expect the 2017 title to do better, as it will be a more traditional, boots on the ground CoD experience."

 

[Carlos]

Activision's CEO just announced that sales of IW are down 50% from BO3. He stated that while the game is incredibly profitable, and they quickly moved about 12-14 million units since release, they failed to reach the targets they had set for February, and admitted that this is clearly due to enough naysayers refusing to consider buying a copy. "For some reason, the setting just didn't resonate. We expect the 2017 title to do better, as it will be a more traditional, boots on the ground CoD experience."

Yes, the YouTube video started this, and continued into Beta. It's not really a surprise. Too many dumbasses playing down Infinite Warfare. It's a good game, problem is, it's marred by controversy at levels that even Activision isn't comfortable with. I haven't been playing Infinite Warfare as of late, but that's because I've been playing Modern Warfare Remastered. Then again, I stopped playing Remastered, too - because there are some glaring problems in the game, and the community, too.

If I was Activision, I would've raised their marketing game with Infinite Warfare, but I'm not the marketing manager. Infinite Warfare was untapped in places.

I'm curious where Sledgehammer is going with Call of Duty at this point. I honestly think that there's really nothing that Activision could've done, but up their marketing. Battlefield 1 sold well, but it didn't really sell enough to make a dent on Call of Duty. If it's selling 12-14 Million copies, it's doing well. It's just that it didn't sell extremely well, as Activision "expected" and anticipated.

In my opinion, Activision's marketing was slacking off, and expecting the game to sell the same all over again. But what they should really focus on is INCREASING sales. The whole point of Call of Duty from Activision's point of view is to reach a casual crowd on a global scale. If Remastered didn't inspire people to buy the game, then NOTHING will. The whole point of the Remastered bundle was to attract both demographics. It's nothing that Activision could've done to sway people to buy Infinite Warfare, it's the naysayers' fault that the sales are down.

They thought it was okay to say "vote with your dollars." But, really, it sends the wrong message. Just my two cents.

My advice to Activision is to send another survey. Because Infinite Warfare's pre-order was the best one yet, in my opinion. It was a two-for-one steal, in my eyes. Legacy Edition should've cost $120, and not $80 so people get the point, that this shit wasn't fucking cheap.

I'm surprised that layoffs didn't hit the Raven guys. I feel sorry for them, because they worked really hard on the remaster, and should be properly compensated.

 

[Toxic34]

What seems most likely? That the 2017 title will be a sequel to Advanced Warfare, given the sequel-baited ending, or will the AW storyline suffer the same fate as Ghosts?

If Activision ends up becoming too timid and too eager to pander to the haters, the true downfall of CoD may be at hand. Will they be able to avoid that?

P.S. Sorry about the first post. I thought it fit better in IW, but I wasn't sure.

 

[Carlos]

What seems most likely? That the 2017 title will be a sequel to Advanced Warfare, given the sequel-baited ending, or will the AW storyline suffer the same fate as Ghosts?

If Activision ends up becoming too timid and too eager to pander to the haters, the true downfall of CoD may be at hand. Will they be able to avoid that?

Hm. I don't know, but I do know they're backed into a corner, and they're now in a place that they really have to please fans. To me, it looks like they're kissing the fans' collective asses. It's not good news. It's bad news. This means, that the fans are going to drive the direction of Call of Duty - in a way that stifles developer inspiration, imagination, and creativity. The next few years we're going to either see the growth of Call of Duty or the downfall of Call of Duty.

Because the thing is, Activision did respond to the right things. When fans didn't like the Infinite Warfare's cover art, Activision obliged and changed it at E3. When people responded to the World Reveal trailer, which was a mixed reaction in the fanbase. Some think it's not really "ugly," and the majority think of it as ugly. Regardless, Activision changed the entire tone and feel of Infinite Warfare. So, throughout the whole game, the whole thing's "dark." Did you notice that? I did. Not one moment in the game you went into a sunny atmosphere, to break up the dark worlds that you go into. Not one. Except the ice mission(s).

The game is good. Hell, it has some of the most innovative player interactions, including the ending credits, where you could listen to farewell messages from family, friends, and whatnot. I thought it was well done. People didn't give the game a chance. However, on the flip coin, there wasn't a memorable moment, that "holy shit!" moment. TitanFall 2 sold well, despite the thrust jump mechanic, wall running, and futuristic feel of the game. And it was reflected by a few memorable, talkable moments, and so on. TitanFall 2 had nods to Half Life 2, nods to Portal, and that was great. Taking inspiration from some of the best games on the market, and turn it into their own innovations. There's a stage where you are to walk into a building, and you're using the time machine gadget - you switch between the present-day destroyed building, and the past, where you learn what the building was - and you explore the location as if the whole stage was designed for you to switch the past and the present to unlock locations, and get to the other side. I won't spoil everything, but it was an awesome campaign. So, what's my point here? The difference between Infinite Warfare and TitanFall 2 is that people trashed Infinite Warfare, and not giving the game a chance - while with TitanFall 2, people gave the game a chance, and talked good things about it. Which spread like a wildfire.

Sledgehammer Games is a good studio, problem is, they're tasked with a tough challenge. This would be their second attempt at their own Call of Duty title. It would have to evoke the same reaction that TitanFall 2 had. And while they're positioned in a place that Battlefield is no longer in the picture, they also have to compete with a licensed Star Wars game: Battlefront. We're not getting a Gears of War this year, unless Microsoft can take a rabbit out of a hat. So, Sledgehammer Games has a little bit of leeway here, but my suggestion is not to slack off like the Infinity Ward team was doing last year. Get your ass up and make the game this, gangbustering, blockbuster, smash hit. Otherwise, layoffs happen.

P.S. Sorry about the first post. I thought it fit better in IW, but I wasn't sure.

Well, posting in an old thread with a new subject isn't an ideal way to talk about it. It's a big story. I'm working on one at the moment.

 

[imperoco]

I would expect something similar to Black Ops 2. Whatever the next logical step from that is. Just a bit into the future.

Maybe tie it to current events somehow. References to Trump, the EU, Russia, North Korea, etc. Maybe a civil war theme if they wanted to get controversial.

 

[[DRC]SPAWN]

Sadly Call Of Duty Infinite Warfare brought the Call Of Duty series almost to it's knees. The lack of an Anti-Cheat system made the game rife with hackers and most of the COD community voted with there feet and stopped playing the game. The game from the start has been very buggy causing alot of problems for many players, and update fixes have been slow in coming. Still the P2P system causes so many problems that clans can barely join on each other to play together. The future has to be returning to boots on the ground and back to dedicated servers. This hasn't been a great release for Activision.

 

[spiritedaway18]

Looks like Sledgehammer Games finally got the chance to finish that Vietnam War-era third-person Call of Duty they first pitched to Activision all those years ago. This is going to be an interesting perspective shift for the franchise.

 

[JusZenTFN]

Infinite Warfare is easily the most terrible CoD ever made. It's the only CoD I didn't even purchase.

 

[Carlos]

Infinite Warfare is easily the most terrible CoD ever made. It's the only CoD I didn't even purchase.

Did you play the SP campaign, at least...? It's a beautiful campaign. I will admit that MP was not perfect, and was not up to par, but Single Player IW was awesome, IMHO.