First, the good news for Activision shareholders: Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare has comfortably secured the second biggest UK launch of the year, falling just short of the week one numbers for FIFA 17. And now the bad news: the game has registered a 48.4 per cent decline compared to its predecessor, Call of Duty: Black Ops III.
It's worth pointing out that there's no PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 version of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, but even with those platforms removed from the equation, the year-over-year drop is 43.6 per cent. Of course, despite being critically well received, there has been a bit of a backlash against Infinity Ward's latest since it was announced, and a slightly sloppy beta didn't help.
Perhaps people are simply tired of the future war format that Activision has been peddling for some time now; there's no doubt that Battlefield 1's historical setting galvanised interest in that game. The publisher won't be sweating too much yet – it may perform better in other territories, for example – but it'll be eager to reverse this trend, we're sure.
Elsewhere, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim dropped from second into fourth, while Skylanders: Imaginators moved up the charts into seventh position. And that's it for this week really; there weren't a whole heap of new retail releases as everyone tends to stay out of Call of Duty's way. The fear factor may have dissipated a little after Infinite Warfare's performance, however.
UK Sales Charts: Week Ending 5th November, 2016
- Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
- Battlefield 1
- FIFA 17
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Titanfall 2
- Football Manager 2017
- Skylanders Imaginators
- Mafia III
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Forza Horizon 3
[source chart-track.co.uk]
Comments 24
Whilst CoD may have dropped nearly 50% it was still enough to sell more than BF1 and TF1 combined in their opening week...
It's worth mentioning that CoD still outsold both BF1 and TF2 combined so I don't think they will be too worried. Still think they should move away from Sci Fi though.
@adf86 @BAMozzy Yep, still a juggernaut. Not a great trend for the series, though — that's a huge drop year-over-year.
The smart money is on COD returning to a WW1 > WW2 setting next year, then. And by 2025 we'll be back in space again
Easy to see why. The game is poor. I usually don't buy COD but this year I made an exception due to the remaster. I have played infinite warfare for about 10 minutes. COD4 on the other hand had me up til the early hours playing. Total nostalgia trip. Very well done remaster to by the way. The visuals have really been brought up to date.
it's worth mentioning. Im probably like most older gamers. I only bought this game for one thing. To get access to COD4MW remastered. I havent even tried to play IW and won't be planning to either.
well considering that last year black ops sold 320K on its opening weekend in the UK on PS4 alone, and titanfall 2 struggled to hit 30K last week.. according to GI.biz TF2 sold only a quarter of TF1's opening despite having almost 10 times the install base.. maybe sci-fi shooters have become oversaturated.
i played 10 minutes of IW's multiplayer, it's garbage. the netcode is a shambles. haven't tried the campaign, i'll get around to it eventually, but having just finished TF2 over the weekend, i'm not in the mood for more futuristic corridor shooting. i've already finished the CoD4:MWR campaign, and still the best of the lot imo, and it looks/plays great on PS4. the multiplayer is good too, though probably not really as good as my rose-tinted glasses thought it was.. plus i haven't really played a lot CoD multiplayer since the original black-ops, so i can't really compete with these sugar-loaded twitch-reflexed 12 year olds anymore. :laugh:
@get2sammyb I think last year helped that Black Ops is a more fan favourite series too. Still it might encourage them to release Modern Warfare by itself.
I wanna throw my money at the locked out game but that's not gonna happen. Change your policy dudes.
Finally! May drop more 50% next year!
Great news, the drop on sales made Ubi skip a year with Assassins Creed, which may be very good for the next game.
That entire top 10 is so depressingly typical of the UK
ive liked the campaign so far...i was never into the whole cod 4 phase so the remaster,whilst fun isnt floating my boat whereas infinite warfare is.
the first scene walking across europa with Jupiter right there in front of you looked amazing.
but maybe it isnt cod...but a whole new series activision should do..to maybe take on ea's titanfall..and keep cod here in the 20th/21st century
black ops 2 (2025), ghosts (2027), advanced warfare (2054-2061) and black ops 3 (2065) were all getting progressively further into the 21st century. not sure i'd really want to see that progression continue, then again, i'm not entirely convinced they could pull off a modern warfare 4 either..
Finally, some good news for the video game industry.
Never been into COD but I can't see the failure here it outsold both BF1 and Titanfall combined and will go on to sell tens of millions but is still considered a failure lol. Also a much smaller install Base with no PS3 OR Xbox 360. Be intresting to see how it performs now the word has spread that the SP is actually really good and the Zombie mode is fun.
@get2sammyb Of course its got to be disappointing for Activision. They knew it wouldn't sell as well as BO3. Infinity Ward may well be the originators of the franchise but most of that team made Titanfall 2. Until CoD:IW released, Ghosts was regarded as one of the worst in the series so the follow up by the same developers was always going to be a hard sell than Treyarchs game. Sledgehammer have to follow up Advanced Warfare which basically screwed up CoD and any chance of being innovative and creative. Chances are we will no go back to the rinse and repeat that everyone was getting fed up with.
Reason I mentioned it though was I could see all the CoD hating sheep making some snide comment and trying to justify that BF is better etc. Not saying BF is better/worse etc but get sick of seeing the mindless comments - I enjoy both franchises.
Considering Activision had stiff competition from 2 critically rated games in the same genre from EA, I am sure they are pleased to outsell both even if disappointed not to meet the same sales figures as last years entry.
Oooh GTA's slipping! Nearly out of the top 10! lol
@BAMozzy yup hating on cod happens every year, as well as Fifa and if anything both franchises are polished, playable, fun and have loads of content.
I wait for cod to drop In price these days though, as I'm seemingly playing the same game (which I enjoy) but its no longer essential for your collection as there are a variety of fps options of a similar quality.
@themcnoisy It just annoys me that as a 'gamer', these people ruin the public perception of gaming. If they are not childishly fighting over which console is best and insulting those who speak up for one or the other (even if they own multiple) they are fighting over which game at polar ends of a genre is better and insulting those who like one or the other.
As you know, I own both an XB1 and PS4, both a PS3 and XB360 etc and still get called [impolite 'fanboy' type names] if I say something like the Pro has much higher native resolution than XB1s (because its a fact and they think 720-1080p upscaled to 4k is as good as the Pro because that too 'upscales' to 4k) or that CoD offers more content than either BF1 or TF2 (because it does - Similar length campaigns, more MP modes and more maps too and then there is Zombies as well) - that's not saying you can't enjoy BF1 or TF2 more because it has less content but stating a fact.
I think its great for fans of FPS games - you have a choice of the team based Battlefield with its vehicles and destruction - this time in an historic setting (I have always said BF series suits the historic setting the better), A fast paced, arcade shooter with Mechs and CoD's fast paced, arcade shooter with scorestreaks and of course Zombies too. I see no reason why you have to buy 1 or the other and can't own all. I can see that picking between TF2 and CoD may well be difficult as they both offer something similar in both game-play and style.
Its competition - like Sony vs MS, CoD vs BF etc that pushes development on and that benefits all of us gamers!
@Neurotic_Biotic
And it barely changes. Sports, shooters and a kid's game, usually Lego every single week.
After setting it in space, having to buy the £70 pack to get MWR and the iffy beta it isn't a surprise.
Bout time Cod goes back in time.
Just finished the campaign last night. Didn't enjoy it as much as Advanced Warfare or Black Ops III but it is a huge step up from Ghosts so that's a plus. And just taken on it's own, it's a good game. In regards to setting, I'll take the sci-fi over World War 1 or 2 any day. Not saying both can't exist but if Call of Duty doesn't ever go back to WW 2, it won't bother me. If these games ever do go back in time, I'd hope it's for it would mean a continuation of the Modern Warfare series.
Don't find myself bothered about Infinite Warfare, if I had the chance I'd get Black Ops III over it anyway, so I can see why it's not doing so well. I quite like the space concept at least, though.
In terms of first-person shooters, Titanfall 2 looks far better than Infinite Warfare and Battlefield 1, so I'll be getting that instead.
I think a lot of people are fed up paying $60 for the same game every year. I like FPSs but I can't justify that price especially when they'll be on sale fairly soon after launch.
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