Black Ops III: Do or Die for Call of Duty Sales

To call it a do-or-die year for Call of Duty sales might be a tad sensational. But, I will make the bold prediction that this could be the beginning of the end for one of the best-selling game franchises in history. No, it won’t go away quickly or quietly if it continues its downward sales trend. But, publisher Activision may be incentivized to cease investments in innovative new directions for future installments in favor of just letting the franchise coast on its own momentum. While some will tell you that Treyarch and Infinity Ward have been guilty of just slapping a fresh coat of paint on last year’s model for several years now, I think that’s a little unfair. The franchise has had its missteps (ahem, Advanced Warfare) but at least it tried something new. 

We’ll never know the real Call of Duty sales figures for the last few years, as Activision has been less forthcoming with numbers in the face of obvious decline. This is in sharp contrast to Novembers longer past when Activision would proudly announce record-breaking launch-day sales numbers. Many believe the series probably peaked at about Modern Warfare 3 in 2011. Sales have clearly declined year-after-year ever since.

Will Black Ops III reverse the fortunes of the Call of Duty series?

It’s possible, Black Ops is after all one of the most popular sub-stories and it’s the game that features the much-loved Zombie mode — and zombies are a serious cultural phenomena these days. Another thing going for this year’s edition of Call of Duty is its innovative three-year development cycle. While this length of time should lead to an amazing game, it comes at serious cost, which could allude to Activision’s desperation to make this the one that turns the sales decline around.  

So, the pressure is definitely on Black Ops III, released Friday, to at least outsell last year’s Advanced Warfare, which, as far as we know was the lowest selling Call of Duty game. But let’s keep some perspective. A poor-selling CoD still has potential to be the best selling game of the year.

Black Ops 3 First Impressions

On Friday, November 6 I finally got my hands on a copy of Black Ops III. I was already leery going into it, after the fantasy turn that the franchise took with Advanced Warfare last year. Super-jumping future soldiers won’t be my cup of tea unless they tone it down a bit from Advanced Warfare.  And from the glimpses I had of the pre-release footage, I wasn’t hopeful, but I was willing to give it a chance. 

Campaign

My modus operandi is to play out a campaign to its finish before going full-out into multiplayer (and of course zombies are a constant when friends are online). So far, I’ve played not much more than the opening missions where things really get going. I've tried limited multiplayer so far and thankfully, it seems to reward players for a slower-paced, tactical approach to movement around the map than Advanced Warfare and its pure arcade-style boost-jumping everywhere across the map.

But the first thing that grabs you when you load up this game is: Wow — this is a beautiful game. Advanced Warfare looked good on next-gen consoles, but somehow Black Ops III ups the ante on the fluid motion, effects and detailed rendering of environments.

In the ’90s, we talked about advanced textures someday giving us photographic realism on PC games. But over the years and in the current generation of games, developers and designers are going beyond photographic realism, creating hyper-real environments that don’t just grab your attention — they intoxicate you. And when you pair them with discreet 5.1 channels of audio, you have nothing short of a deeply immersive, elevated experience. 

NO SPOILERS

I promise, no spoilers about the single-player campaign so far. But I will say it’s a gripping story with an obvious re-playability factor. Traditionally in Call of Duty games, we’re used to stories with lots of opportunity for action but minimal character development. Black Ops III certainly provides the action that keeps you interested, but it also adds subtle likability to its in-game characters  — played by a host of familiar TV and movie actors.

The warfare technology imagined in Black Ops III is also interesting, not as cut-and-dry as the exoskeletons of Advanced Warfare. I can only describe the story as…Black Ops meets The Matrix. The story arc seems less comparable to an action film where the hero simply uses high-tech gadgets to save the day, and more comparable to the subtle fear of technology-gone-awry, like in Frankenstein’s Monster.

To sum it up, it’s a compelling and well-acted story so far, and I’m looking forward to playing it through before diving into multiplayer (and it goes without saying — zombies).

I’ll also be keeping an eye on the story behind the plot of this year’s installment of Call of Duty, as there is far more at stake than blasted pixels online. Friday’s launch has marked a pivotal moment for the franchise, and there’s no drama like knowing careers are about to be made or destroyed based on the success of Black Ops III.