Yeah, I know the Call of Duty franchise is very popular.  Heck, I can’t turn on the television without seeing one of its commercials every thirty minutes, but is it slowing down?  At least one analyst seems to think so.

Analyst Arvind Bhatia of Sterne Agee recently told investors that the Call of Duty franchise is slowly beginning to diminish in terms of its popularity.  Bhatia pointed to some retail shops where sales of Black Ops II decreased as much as 20 percent when compared to last years release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.  He projects that Black Ops II’s first-year sales will be 10-15 percent lower than those for Modern Warfare 3 when all is said and done.

A decrease in year-over-year sales is not a first for the Call of Duty franchise.  Modern Warfare 3 sales were five percent lower than the original Black Ops.  When speaking of the declines, Bhatia said, “It goes without saying that weakness in this franchise is a cause for concern.”

As for possible reasoning behind the year-over-year declines, Bhatia listed three main factors:

• a lower average review score for Black Ops II compared to Modern Warfare 3
• Black Ops II’s release date being close to that of Halo 4
• Black Ops II being released a week before Thanksgiving, meaning some may have waited until Black Friday to purchase the game

These factors all have some merit, so we will have to see how it all shakes out in the end.  Black Ops II did manage to register $500 million in sales in its first 24 hours.

Do you feel the Call of Duty franchise in decline?

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