Activision may regret putting all of its eggs in the ‘Call Of Duty’ basket

[ad_1]

Call of Duty Vanguard

Activision

Activision Blizzard is in crisis, thanks to a California lawsuit alleging mistreatment of women at the company for years. But the company went ahead with the usual slate of announcements and releases, that is, unveiling Call of Duty Vanguard, the new annual game in the series that harkens back to World War II once again.

At this point, Activision’s part of Activision-Blizzard-King is largely devoted solely to being a massive Call of Duty production machine. Every studio they own is said to operate the franchise, and the franchise extends to 2,000 people. We have (via VGC):

Sledgehammer Games Groundbreaking development for Vanguard Treyarch Vanguard Raven’s zombie mode Work on Warzone Infinity War Still working on 2019 Modern Warfare Build next batch Beenox, Demonware, High Moon Studios, Activision Shanghai and Toys for Bob Work on A combination of Vanguard and Warzone as support

There are 2,000 workers you have, and Activision Blizzard says they have plans to hire another 2,000. Although in recent times recruitment has proven to be a problem.

While Call of Duty is a huge franchise unparalleled in the industry, it seems somewhat…unwise to see Activision put so many eggs in one basket. This is especially true now that Blizzard feels like it’s in a complete free fall. Blizzard has always been the other half of Activision that has at least countless more games under its umbrella instead of one. But Overwatch 2 has always looked like a dubious possibility and Diablo 4 has just lost several key leaders, including its director, to the investigation of misconduct, and it seems further away than ever.

We simply don’t see this with…any other major publisher. At least not to this degree. This is similar to whether EA only made Madden games or Ubisoft only made Assassin’s Creed. Only Sony God of War or Nintendo made Mario annuities and nothing else.

Call of Duty is still incredibly popular, but it faces more competition than ever, both in terms of similar games (this year alone, Battlefield 2042 and Halo Infinite), but also a separate front with Warzone (battling PUBG, Fortnite, etc.). ). Call of Duty is a pretty solid performer, but it’s no longer breaking records year after year like it used to be. Warzone has been a solid source of revenue, but it has also been decimated by cheaters to the point that many players have fled.

I’m not saying the games don’t do well, but dedicating thousands of people and your entire game production ecosystem to one series doesn’t seem like the best idea, especially when my other half, Blizzard, feels like it’s on the verge of collapse these days. King? I suppose King will continue to be a mobile golden goose and another boon to the bottom line, and he may help support this eternal Call of Duty dream.

However, the day may come when this strategy takes a turn. And I don’t want to be a contributor to the day when the one series you focus relentlessly on starts to underperform, or is disqualified in favor of newer, more exciting options from the competition.

Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for our free weekly content newsletter, God Rolls.

Pick up the science fiction novels from the Herokiller series, and The Earthborn Trilogy, which is also in an audiobook.

.

[ad_2]