Activision Blizzard said in its April 2022 earnings announcement that the Call of Duty series revenue was down year-on-year, partly because of Call of Duty: Vanguard sales. Mentions that it was because he did not behave. The company seems to think that one of the causes of the sluggish sales is that this work had the theme of World War II. Overseas media such as Kotaku have reported.
Activision Blizzard released the 2021 annual report on April 29, this year. The company commented that “Call of Duty: Vanguard” did not meet the company’s expectations. The cause was mainly the company’s judgment, and he recalls that choosing the era setting of World War II did not affect the hearts of some communities. Another reason is that we mightn’t deliver innovative content.
“Call of Duty: Vanguard” was released for PC / PS4 / PS5 / Xbox One / Xbox Series X | S in November last year. The person in charge of development was Sledgehammer Games, which worked on “Call of Duty: WWII” released in 2017, and it was the first work in four works since the same work that depicts World War II.
“Call of Duty: WWII” was a relatively well-received and successful work in terms of sales. With revenues of $ 500 million in three days and $ 1 billion by the end of the year, it is the best-selling work released in 2017 in North America. On the other hand, “Call of Duty: Vanguard” has been sluggish in terms of evaluation, and sales are as mentioned above.It is also reported that the sales in the first week of the release in the UK were 40% lower than the record of the previous work “Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War” (total of package version and download version.GamesIndustry.biz）。
World War II has been known as a popular content in games such as FPS such as the “Call of Duty” series. However, Activision Blizzard attributed that era setting to the slump in Call of Duty: Vanguard. In fact, among gamers, “WWII alienation” seems to be happening in some areas.
Overseas media GamesIndustry.biz conducted a questionnaire last November, “Why didn’t you buy’Call of Duty: Vanguard’?” According to the results, 24% of the respondents chose it because they were “not attracted to the setting of World War II.” By the way, the respondents are “hardcore gamers” who visited the game events EGX (UK) and PAX (USA) (Related article）。
In this questionnaire, many respondents said, “I’m busy playing other games (55%)” and “I’m tired of the” Call of Duty “series (34%).” It can be seen that the setting of World War II is not necessarily the only reason for the sluggish sales. In that sense, Activision Blizzard’s “innovation” can be seen as a factor as big as or even bigger than the setting of the times.
Activision Blizzard will release “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II” this year as the latest in the “Call of Duty” series. It’s a sequel to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, released in 2019, developed by Infinity Ward. In this annual report, the company says it will tackle the issues in Call of Duty: Vanguard and then launch a new one, proclaiming it to be the most ambitious in the series. The official announcement of what kind of work it will be is awaited.