Call of Duty has been Activision's biggest money maker for quite a while, and the company will be depending on the franchise to deliver more wins this year and next with further Modern Warfare 2 DLC and the next retail releases.
While Activision may have had to navigate a bit of awkwardness in discussing Infinity Ward and praising Bungie, the company's focus is still strongly set upon Call of Duty, as today's investor call revealed many new details about the franchise's future.
On top of the DLC records set by the Stimulus Package, Activision touted the fact that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 became the best-selling third-party game of all time this year. The remaining employees at Infinity Ward are working on a second round of DLC due later this year, but Activision COO Thomas Tippl could not confirm whether a third batch could be coming. Tippl also defended the $15 price point for the Stimulus Package, stating "We've expanded the amount of maps, and thus the price has been a great value for gamers." Tippl also name dropped the company's 2009 hit by mentioning the fact that Blur, this month's new Activision racing game, has been increasingly referred to as "Modern Carfare."
In revealing Activision's largely-unchanged 2010 release schedule, Tippl noted that Call of Duty: Black Ops' November 9 release will be the company's biggest release of the year, with a retail presence to match. Tippl pointed out that Black Ops marks the first time that the entire 200+ staff at Treyarch will be dedicated on one Call of Duty project, which likely means that the 2011 game will fall into the hands of Infinity Ward or Sledgehammer. Black Ops' multiplayer will not fall into the hands of Battle.Net, nor will any other Call of Duty game in foreseeable future, according to Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, though the company head did state that what Treyarch has been delivering in terms of multiplayer has been exceeding the publisher's expectations.
What do you think of the latest Call of Duty developments? Are you more excited to see the next Modern Warfare 2 DLC or Black Ops?
Source: Daily News from GamePro.com
Thursday, May 6, 2010