Call of Duty has become review-proof, analyst suggests, but Titanfall & Destiny will pose real challenge in 2014
Call of Duty: Ghosts hasn't reviewed all that well - as you can see here - but Cowen & Company analyst Doug Creutz has stressed that it'll sell regardless. However, with Titanfall and Destiny out in 2014, he feels Activision's franchise will face its stiffest competition yet.
Speaking with GI.biz, Creutz said, "We think CoD has become such an embedded franchise that it is somewhat review-proof. We think of CoD as being like EA's Madden NFL, which continues to sell similar unit numbers year in and year out, regardless of reviews; Madden's Metacritic has ranged as low as 78 in recent years."
He added, "Given that CoD changes only incrementally from year to year, we think reviewers have become increasingly less likely to give very high review scores due to a certain degree of ennui with the franchise."
Strangely, he stated that EA "didn't exactly cover itself in glory" with Battlefield 4's Metacritic score, which is in the 80s on all formats.
Is 80/100 low now? Did we miss a trick here?
Regardless, Creutz continued by saying that while both Call of Duty and Battlefield will continue to sell well regardless of scores, each franchise will face mounting pressure from 2014's biggest shooters Titanfall and Destiny.
He explained, "Our concern lies more with next year, when Call of Duty will face competition from several new next-gen shooters, including EA's Titanfall and Activision's own Destiny.
"To the degree that Call of Duty may become a bit of a 'been there done that' experience for gamers, we think it is vulnerable to losing share as new product enters the market; even if a lot of that share goes to Destiny, as a third party title it will carry a lower margin for [Activision], and we think bullish 2014 [earnings per share] estimates assume Destiny will be more incremental than cannibalistic."
Do you feel that Titanfall and Destiny will give the shooter pack a kick up the arse? Let us know what you think below.
We've got a full Call of Duty: Ghost campaign walkthrough guide here, with extra multiplayer tips.
Via OXM.