Why does Call of Duty keep selling so well?

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babinro

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They're great games as much as people hate to admit it.

Take the reason people go and see movie sequels to popular franchises in greater numbers and apply them to this COD or other game series.

After a year or so of playing, the game naturally becomes stale and friends naturally find their place in the ranks. By introducing a new version of the game with tweaks and improvements, everyone can start back at square one and rekindle their love for the game. Word of mouth leads to greater popularity and sales.
 

Jaime_Wolf

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Allow me to present a brief interlude in the "CoD FOREVER!!!1!!"/"I HATE PEOPLE WHO LIKE THINGS I DON'T LIKE" argument to explain why this sort of reasoning is going to be offensive no matter how you try to couch it in diplomatic hedges.

You can suppose that there are millions of people who have been somehow "tricked" into buying the game even though they don't actually like it.

Or you can supposed that these millions of people like the game and that many people have different tastes than you do.

Which one seems more reasonable and which one makes people who espouse it sound like bigger assholes?
 

V8 Ninja

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Mostly because it's a crowd-pleaser. It's a bombastic and scenic solo experience mixed in with an addictive and engrossing multiplayer experience. I'm not saying that the games are bad, but that they aim for the biggest audience and usually hit their target.
 

Vykrel

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its casual and hardcore at the same time. CoD is one of the only games in which you can just jump into and play whenever, but also put a lot of time into.

still, i find it kind of sad that the majority of people who play CoD, dont really play anything else that isnt a sports game or something. most of them dont even play the CoD campaigns, only the multiplayer.
 

Jaime_Wolf

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Some Random Tosser said:
3) To the moronic masses who have never actually seen a soldier or a military base in real life, 'Call of Duty' is a juvenile war fantasy. It's not a matter of realism; it's a matter of being a soldier of war with a gun and being incredibly- I use the following word insincerely due to it conflicting with my actual definition of the word- badass and killing everyone. For any of you, even I will pray for your health if you actually hold such views in front of your superior officer, and I will pray doubly so if you voice those views.
Right, these people are so naive.

If I hadn't actually seen a soldier or a military base in real life, I would totally believe that this is exactly how real soldiers defend American suburbs from Russian invasion. And thank goodness I know a few people in the military to let me know that you don't get special equipment for getting several kills in a row without respawning.
 

C.O.C

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Aug 5, 2009
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Awesome another one of these threads, seriously?
I'll tell you why they sell so much it's because people enjoy them, I know wow right?
So there's your reason right there.
 

El Cookio

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Dec 4, 2009
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bussinroundz said:
Alot of ppl that play COD aren't really gamers though. That's why it's so huge. They probably don't even know too much about other games.

I don't understand your logic at all here.

What proof do you have to support this claim?
 

Waaghpowa

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El Cookio said:
bussinroundz said:
Alot of ppl that play COD aren't really gamers though. That's why it's so huge. They probably don't even know too much about other games.

I don't understand your logic at all here.

What proof do you have to support this claim?
A great deal of people I have met never played video games before this generation made it "cool". As such many people purchase a game console for the sole purpose of Call of Duty. Since I work in electronics retail, I see it a lot. Lot of middle aged guys who never played video games come out to buy consoles for call of duty, as well as those who would appear to be of the stereotype guy who's uninterested in technology or thought it was for losers(Can't think of a word for them). Not to mention a lot of young kids are big into call of duty and aren't old enough to remember, or have played anything before this generation.

That's what I believe he means.
 

Indignator

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Jaime_Wolf said:
Allow me to present a brief interlude in the "CoD FOREVER!!!1!!"/"I HATE PEOPLE WHO LIKE THINGS I DON'T LIKE" argument to explain why this sort of reasoning is going to be offensive no matter how you try to couch it in diplomatic hedges.

You can suppose that there are millions of people who have been somehow "tricked" into buying the game even though they don't actually like it.

Or you can supposed that these millions of people like the game and that many people have different tastes than you do.

Which one seems more reasonable and which one makes people who espouse it sound like bigger assholes?
Is this argument aimed at me? If so you missed completely and hit the strawman five miles in the opposite direction.

I am actually a defender of Call of Duty. I really liked the single player campaigns of 1, 2 and MW (I'm a PC gamer so I didn't get to play 3); I think that their shortness is justified under the "short but sweet" rule; I think that given the sales record Activision is more than justified in doing what they are doing; I think that the hate against this franchise is unwarranted; and, unlike some (*cough* MovieBob *cough*), I don't think the series is somehow ruining gaming. So don't give me this BS that I hate people who like things I don't like.
 

cookieXkiller

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Indignator said:
3) Player Base - this is the best explanation that I can come up with. Since the majority of people play these games for the multiplayer, once a new version comes out they buy it because they fear that their friends and online buddies will switch and they want to stay current. Of course their friends and online buddies will switch to the new version for the same reason, thus perpetuating a feedback cycle.
this; A lot of kids and their brothers and everyone is playing it.
I on the other hand dont feel like handing out $150 nz for mw2.5
yes it may be worth it but no. I dont feel like using my cash on it.
 

Vindictus

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Apr 3, 2010
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1. Every man and his dog plays or has heard of Call of Duty.
2. Every other man and his dog has a friend who knows of Call of Duty.
3. CoD is a multiplayer game.

That's why. It has little to do with being good or bad or anything else.
 

GoodApprentice

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Why are there so many McDonald's even when everyone perfectly understands that the food is mass-produced, low-quality, nearly-poisonous filler?
 

Warforger

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Some Random Tosser said:
3) To the moronic masses who have never actually seen a soldier or a military base in real life, 'Call of Duty' is a juvenile war fantasy. It's not a matter of realism; it's a matter of being a soldier of war with a gun and being incredibly- I use the following word insincerely due to it conflicting with my actual definition of the word- badass and killing everyone. For any of you, even I will pray for your health if you actually hold such views in front of your superior officer, and I will pray doubly so if you voice those views.
You mean exactly like Battlefield 3 then? Come to think of it, LIKE EVERY ACTION GAME EVER? Whoa better get off those video games before you lose all your social skills and respect for anyone! We should make a video game that's all about realistic warfare, where you patrol streets and if you die once you have to restart from the beginning of the game. And you'll die from a landmine or an ambush, you'll rarely get into an actual firefight! Oh yah and they should teach the player the importance of cooking, fire making, how to send distress signals to get found oh yah and the game should teach the player how to speak the native language throughout the game. Sounds like so much fun, gee thank gosh for you enlightened minority who won't play a game if it isn't dedicated to realism, which means you're probably not playing video games at all.

Although I do find it hilarious how hardcore pro's playing war shooters join the army because of them, probably only to find out it's not what they thought it was going to be, and that in order to see a small fraction of what you see in the games you'd have to be your high school sports star and go through years of training in order to get into the highest ranks of the military.

Some Random Tosser said:
The fact that the game is set in the real world doesn't matter; 'Call of Duty' fans are (I imagine) also fond of 'Mass Effect' because the gameplay is similar; hide behind walls (like a soldier), kill anything that pops out to look at you (like a soldier), proceed (like a soldier). Games like 'Serious Sam' and 'Painkiller' are in no way the same as you can jump very high, run while gunning and carry seven billion weapons and not look down the sights. Also, you're likely to get savaged by a bunch of extremely strong enemies at once (this has doomed me several times in Sam Stone's first adventure). 'Call of Duty' players don't want to be superhumans; they want to be soldiers.
Yes, soldiers who fight Russian commies all over the world in an elaborate campaign for global domination. Considering people don't care if they're Russian's or Americans in the multiplayer, nor do they hate Russians with a grudge, yah I'd assume this is not for real.

Moreover, I'm tired of seeing people say "people have no taste in games" if they buy CoD, seriously if you campaign about that you're a huge tool, now go get your award from EA marketing for advertising their product.
 

Torrasque

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Geekosaurus said:
It's fun. It's a simple as that.
and why fix something that isn't broken?
From a sales perspective, each CoD is a masterpiece. All they have to do is stick to the formula, change enough things so it is a new game, and voila: instant money.
 

Jaime_Wolf

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Indignator said:
Jaime_Wolf said:
Allow me to present a brief interlude in the "CoD FOREVER!!!1!!"/"I HATE PEOPLE WHO LIKE THINGS I DON'T LIKE" argument to explain why this sort of reasoning is going to be offensive no matter how you try to couch it in diplomatic hedges.

You can suppose that there are millions of people who have been somehow "tricked" into buying the game even though they don't actually like it.

Or you can supposed that these millions of people like the game and that many people have different tastes than you do.

Which one seems more reasonable and which one makes people who espouse it sound like bigger assholes?
Is this argument aimed at me? If so you missed completely and hit the strawman five miles in the opposite direction.

I am actually a defender of Call of Duty. I really liked the single player campaigns of 1, 2 and MW (I'm a PC gamer so I didn't get to play 3); I think that their shortness is justified under the "short but sweet" rule; I think that given the sales record Activision is more than justified in doing what they are doing; I think that the hate against this franchise is unwarranted; and, unlike some (*cough* MovieBob *cough*), I don't think the series is somehow ruining gaming. So don't give me this BS that I hate people who like things I don't like.
Not really aimed at you in particular.

However, there was this bit: "2) Quality - the games are just that good. Again, I don't really buy this."

Even if you think they're good, I don't understand why it's so unbelievable that they sell so well because they have incredibly broad and lasting appeal. Why does there need to be some other hidden mechanism behind their success? They came out with a great game, a lot of people enjoyed it, then they came out with a sequel that a lot of people also enjoyed, etc. Very few series manage as many games with such consistent quality and such lasting appeal.

To see why they sell so much without changing multiplayer gameplay significantly, just look at other popular games with large playerbases. Look at CS: huge playerbase, they released a new version (CSS) that changed things quite a bit and a huge segment of the playerbase didn't want to change over. The fact that they're not changing much of the gameplay shouldn't make it less understandable that the sales numbers are so high, it should make it more understandable.

Nor will I ever understand how people can say it's the "same game, just with tweaks and a different campaign" with a straight face. You know what two games with a bunch of tweaks and wholly different campaigns are? Different games.
 

TheBoulder

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Kadoodle said:
Because there are a lot of stupid, tasteless people out there.
You are obviously one of them.

OT: It's so popular because it's fun, simple as that.
 

FoolKiller

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Aviyur said:
Yet MW10 will still sell millions to the drooling idiots that wouldn't know a good game if it bunny hopped round the corner and quickscoped them in the leg ending in a OHK.
Yes. And based on the statistical data of the release rate of Guitar Heros, Activision should be launching Modern Warfare 10 in 6 to 8 weeks.

On a more serious note: Its fun. Whether you're a casual gamer or not, that is what it is all about. I don't think its great and I won't buy a game at its launch unless its something intriguing and amazing. Last year I only bought Alan Wake and Splinter Cell (oh the sadness). I will pick this up in about 6 months when the hype dies down as well as the price.
 

Irony's Acolyte

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Mar 9, 2010
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People like it? Is it really that hard to understand? And while it may be that the gameplay hasn't changed much in the last couple installments, it is still very solid gameplay which can be very fun. Sure it isn't highly intellectual by any means, but if people like it, it's doing something right.