Pachter: Call of Duty sales down by $250 million this year

Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter has said he expects Call of Duty franchise sales down by $250 million this year.

The analyst made the claim in a note ahead of Activision's Q4 FY10 financials on Wednesday.

"Call of Duty’s phenomenal launch poses a difficult comparison, and we expect a year-over-year decline of $250 million for the franchise," said Pachter.

Back at the start of the year, Activision confirmed Modern Warfare 2 had made over $1 billion in revenue.

Pachter also said that, thanks to the "phenomenal launch" of the Infinity Ward juggernaut back in November, sales of the shooter could be the reason behind low sales for other Activision games like DJ Hero, Tony Hawk: Ride and Band Hero.

Treyarch will be doing this year's installment. As for who's doing the one after that, almost certainly Modern Warfare 3, the rumourmongers reckon it's not Infinity Ward.

Expect Big Bob to talk about how much richer he has become thanks to MW2 tomorrow.