Call of Duty franchise could be slowing, say analyst

Call of Duty: Black Ops II had a big opening where the game raked in $500 million in its first 24 hours. However, Arvind Bhatia of Sterne Agee believes that the franchise is showing further signs that it is indeed slowing in popularity.

According to retail data that Bhatia has examined, sales have been seen to down as much as 20 percent. The analyst believes that this could lead to a decline from the sales of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which were less than the previous title, the original Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Bhatia believes that competition from Halo 4 and lower review scores were likely factors in the game’s slower start. However, the analyst thinks that sales could be propped up by the next data which will factor in Black Friday sales, which were likely big for the game.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II launched on November 13th, and is available now on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and Wii U.