Analysts Say Call of Duty Won't Go Guitar Hero

[Baresark]

I trust analysts no further than I can throw the internet. There is no reason to believe that the popularity in the CoD series won't decline. This FPS is big now, and CoD definitely wasn't always the top. And it can't stay there. The company will keep releasing them until the market is too saturated by games that are identical to other games, even within the same genre (we see this with Modern Warfare and so on). Business Analysts can only analyze the present. They don't deal with the past, and they are completely incapable of deciding how the market will change.

The most likely outcome is a few more successful CoD's, then someone will come along, do what they do, but better and infuse the equation with a new element. That will be the new king and in 5-7 years these same analysts will be saying this about some other franchise.

Though, I do have to say, while I believe what I'm saying, I could be wrong. I have a biased opinion about CoD at this point because I played every game in the series in it's entirety up until I found CoD: Blops unable to hold my interest for an entire play through of the campaign. The campaigns up until the were pretty much fantastic. The campaign sucked hard on Blops. And the multiplayer was no different than previous games. They added a funky ingame currency then declared it as some sort of customization.....

So, clearly I'm not a fan of the series at this point. But other such series that have seen decline, as well as the entire genre associated with them, would be the Grand Theft Auto series, the Doom series declined heavily after the release of the Doom3. Halo has seen a decline, to the point where Reach, whch was a truly incredible game, garnered less attention just because it was "another Halo" game.

 

[TheNewDemoman]

This year is going to own my wallet.

If I have some spare money I might go buy the next COD, just cuz that is all my friends own -_-

 

[Koios]

Smart way to market GH/RB would've been to release periodic expansions/update DLC to add the new instruments/game modes/ what have you and new songs instead of releasing so many games. Sad to see them go the way they did.

With regards to CoD, I think MW2 prolly has the best multiplayer, and that everything after that should just be a rental for the single player story. What happened to IW sucks; Treyarch's games are more annoying. In saying that, I mean the hardest difficulty (veteran, if i remember correctly- it's been a few months) is ridiculously harder than IW's hardest setting (still beat them all) and the inclusion of multiplayer achievements is a terrible idea. I don't get games solely for achievements, but they can be a fun challenge when they're not completely dependent on having good teammates in a multiplayer mode. However, Treyarch did put together an awesome intro for the Pentagon zombies level, so they deserve kudos for that.

 

[jackpipsam]

hope CoD does die

 

[Krion_Vark]

CoD will follow Guitar Hero at the rate its going. Eventually a better game will come out that people prefer to play more than CoD. Guitar Hero has been following on the heels of Rock Band since Rock Band came out the only good game since 2 was World Tour where they finally introduced all instruments.

 

[Krion_Vark]

Smart way to market GH/RB would've been to release periodic expansions/update DLC to add the new instruments/game modes/ what have you and new songs instead of releasing so many games. Sad to see them go the way they did.

The thing about Rock Band is that if you notice Rock Band came out introducing ALL of the instruments. Then Rock Band 2 came out around the time of World Tour then Rock Band 3 came out with the addition of the Key-tar. RB has only ever really released a new game to add stuff to it or keep itself out there it had released a bunch DLC but there are somethings it would rather not take up hard drive space for like adding in new instruments.

 

[TheGuy(wantstobe)]

Considering that videogame analysts have yet to be right about anything in the past 5 years I think we can safely deduce that the COD franchise is going to die in the next 2-3 years.

 

[Bernzz]

Saw it coming. It was basically "You buy one Guitar Hero, you have them all."

 

[9Darksoul6]

Why not?
Here's his whole argument summed up: "I don't believe any lessons learned from the music category applies to the Call of Duty franchise." You don't believe it? Good for you.
I, on the other hand, believe that if you don't stop giving people the same thing, almost every year, people will not only get tired of it, but you'll also stop being creative, and your products will start being crap. I mean, come on, look at the shit you're seeling Activision, Black Ops: since MW1 the CoD franchise has been going downhill, almost every game being worse than its predecessor.
GH didn't die because it was a rythm game, but because it was milked to death: they started making sequels without bothering improving/changing anything.
Isn't that what's happening with Cod?
http://www.destructoid.com/activision-exploring-an-mmo-style-service-for-call-of-duty-135924.phtml

 

[Vimbert]

In a word: DUH. Ye gods, I ought to become an analyst if this is the kind of "insight" they offer.

 

[geizr]

I can see how Guitar Hero becomes tired because there really isn't any change in how you play the game, only in the selection of songs(I still had fun with it, myself, so I consider the purchase worthwhile for the time I did enjoy it). After a while, people start to question the value of spending $50, $60, $100+ for basically the same game with just a different mix of songs. Why can't I just buy the game and controller once and then just buy the songs I want after? Well, they do this, however, they also put out a new game. It just doesn't make sense to keep buying after a bit. Also, the cost of the additional songs can get to be a financial load(many were fairly pricey, if I recall). People only have just so much money(and time), and, no matter what you do, that reality will always be brought to bear. Eventually, people have to make a choice of whether they can sustain the effort.

As for CoD, do we really need another WWII FPS(or space marine FPS, for that matter)? Is it not possible to try something different, at least a different time period(other than the far future with more space marines)? How long before that formula becomes tired and old? Saying that a particular genre or game franchise will last forever seems to ignore the fact that people get bored if you go too long without bringing something new to the table. Even the long running Mario and Zelda franchises have had to mix things up to keep fans interested after all these years; there's no way they can survive these years putting out the exact same game time and again. But, even so, there will come a time when even those franchises fade.

Everything has its time; nothing lasts forever. Eventually, all things pass away to be replaced by something else, and the cycle starts anew. Clinging to the past is wasted effort; instead, embrace change and move forward into the future.

 

[BlueSinbad]

I hope it tanks...COD is shit.

 

[DTWolfwood]

It will follow the same fate as Call of Duty 1 & 2. Fading slowly into obscurity. Then probably resurrect like a phoenix! I can almost bet most ppl who own MW2 or Black Ops never even heard of or played the Original Call of Duties

p.s. 1,2,4 i still think very fondly of them. 3,5,6,7 garbage.

 

[Stammer]

I just love how they compared Call of Duty to the sports games. They come out with a new one every year that only has tiny improvements over the previous one and yet there's always all those people that will buy it every single time.

I have a cousin that buys every new NHL game, every new Madden game, every new soccer game, and every new Call of Duty every single year.

The only reason why the Guitar Hero games stopped selling is because they got skimpier on the good songs and because you're paying like $120 for something that is negligibly better than its predecessor in every way.

 

[Retardinator]

two different franchises with two different demographics. I don't believe any lessons learned from the music category applies to the Call of Duty franchise.

Noooo, absolutely not. Especially when you take into account that the Call of Duty franchise has absolutely nothing new to offer. It could have, but it won't do it because the games are being released every year, thus leaving the designers with little time to think up or even implement and test new ideas.
If you look back a couple (10 - time goes too fast) years. BF42 came out and it was like: "Holy shit real warfare with tanks and planes and mortars and shit!"
If you look at BLOPS: "Holy shit I can make a dick and put it next to my nickname!!!11!1"

If all those people who still play CoD online can't get off that shit by the time next game comes out, I'm going to lose all hope in humanityP) then the majority of the world population will be marked as addicts in my book.

 

[PhiMed]

"Could Activision mess it up? Sure, but if they focus on maintaining high game quality, fresh story-lines, and online multiplayer, then I don't see an obvious reason for the franchise to decline."

Hmmm...

High game quality... nope.

Fresh story lines... nope

Online multiplayer... Well, I guess batting .333 isn't so bad.

 

[Grampy_bone]

"The 'hit it and quit it' model -- carpet-bombing the market with sequels and then slashing the assets"

We all knew this is how it was, but it's still kinda shocking to hear them say it.

Right from the publisher's mouth: they intentionally ran the franchise into the ground. Awesome.

 

[fates_puppet13]

cod is a game i play when im bored or wish to torment 13 year olds by choosing the tubes cause they are stupidly overpowered

and guitar hero is ok but it really comes to life at drunken parties ;L

 

[WhiteHawk0117]

If Activision keeps reselling Cod4 every year then it damn well will become Guitar Hero.