Activision struck gold with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare this generation. The shooter skyrocketed in popularity and left a lot of others in the dust. Prior to its arrival, the console landscape was considerably different for shooter fans. Battlefield and Medal of Honor were the more popular shooters, and Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six franchises were more popular as well. Some analysts believe that Call of Duty’s reign is coming to an end, and that consumers might be feeling the fatigue of a new variation on the Call of Duty formula year after year.
In a recent interview, Michael Pachter explained to OXM about the chances of Battlefield 4 and DICE’s franchise jumping to the head of the class when it comes to console shooters.
“The opportunity to dethrone a market leader is highest as consumers transition cycles.”
“The Call of Duty franchise is at or near its peak annual sales potential, and we’ll likely see sales stabilize,” said the analyst. “Battlefield 4’s launching next autumn and new consoles coming out, so this is likely to affect sales… The biggest risk is consumer fatigue – but a few years ago Call of Duty was a WWII shooter, and it morphed into Modern Warfare, then Black Ops. They will work hard to keep it fresh.”
EEDAR’s Jesse Divnich also added further speculation to Battlefield 4 dethroning Call of Duty, and says that if there will be a time to do it, it will done in the next-gen transition.
“While momentum is on Call of Duty’s side, the opportunity to dethrone a market leader is highest as consumers transition cycles. We have faith Call of Duty can hold its market dominance, but EA will push to solidify Battlefield as the premiere shooter franchise as we transition to new consoles.”
If Battlefield 4 is to lead the next generation charge for EA, they’ll need to start showing consumers something soon. The upcoming reveal of the PlayStation 4 could mark the opening of the flood gates when it comes to news on next-gen titles. Battlefield 4 recently made headlines when the CEO of GameStop was shown the upcoming shooter in a behind closed doors session where the game was revealed to retail executives.
While fans are definitely excited about the possibility of an upcoming Battlefield 4 reveal, DICE is still hard at work on supporting Battlefield 3. The game which released back in 2011 has got another massive expansion heading out in the coming weeks that features four new maps, and the return of Air Superiority Mode in the End Game Expansion.
