Call of Duty: Ghosts sales down 19% on Black Ops 2, 36% on MW3 - analyst

Call of Duty: Ghosts is one of the best-selling games this year, but it's not living up to previous entries in the series, according to market analysis firm Cowen & Company.

In a note to investors reported by VentureBeat, Cowen & Company said Ghosts' sales are down 19% year-on-year compared to 2012 release Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.

Cowen analyst Doug Creutz said the lower sales figures are even "more troubling" than they initially suggest. Year-on-year, Ghosts has had an extra week on sale compared to Black Ops 2, making that 19% gap more serious than it looks, but even worse, it has had two extra weeks on sale compared to Modern Warfare 3, and is still 36% behind.

Creutz doesn't think sales for PS4 and Xbox One will make up the difference, either.

“We don’t think it is out of the question that the title could wind up comparing down 20% to 25% year-over-year [to Black Ops II], which is appreciably worse than the down 10 to 15% that we think is baked in to guidance," he said.

By guidance, Creutz is referring to Activision's advice to investors; the publisher had warned investors that Ghosts sales might be lower due to the console transition.

Call of Duty Ghosts topped the UK charts again this week, and was the best-selling game in North America in November.

Thanks, GamesIndustry.