I think the Call of Duty bubble will burst soon

[Anayo]

I saw this happen before with Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero games. The first one made a splash, then they began churning them out once a year and everyone got bored of them. I enjoy Call of Duty but I think it's headed in a similar direction.

[Xeogred]

The writing has been on the wall for sure. I think numbers for Infinite Warfare are half of what Black Ops 3 sold (or shipped?) ... but it's been on a decline the last few years for sure. I didn't see Infinite Warfare even nominated for any kind of awards in 2016. Nobody cares anymore. Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2 gave it a good run this year and people are bored of a decade old engine with COD never evolving at all. Good riddance.

I say this as someone who maxed out prestige in COD4 and will probably pick up most of them once they hit that $10 or less bargain bin price. But if they disappeared overnight, I won't miss them at all.

Press X to pay respects.... nah, just turn it off.

[Sarge]

Perhaps. With a series like this, a bad entry will definitely throw them off their game, but then again, another fantastic game will put them back on top of the heap.

But yes, these things almost always end up running their course eventually. Tony Hawk died because it was too much, and the quality kept dropping. Guitar Hero got upstaged by Rock Band, and then the plastic instrument fad died, so it might not be quite as analogous.

In general, FPS gamers in particular will flock to the new hotness, so that's why they tried to shake things up with Infinite. Indeed, the writing is on the wall. We'll see if they have what it takes to reinvent the series successfully, or if it falls off to also-ran status.

[marurun]

With as much money as is put behind Call of Duty every release, I would be surprised if they didn't at least try to reinvent the series if it starts to flag.

[TSTR]

DUTY OF CALL
FIRST PERSON PHONE BANK SIMULATOR
NOW WITH JETPACKS

[Ack]

I see none of you played CoD of Duty, where you must shoot fish in barrels. With guns!

[isiolia]

With as much money as is put behind Call of Duty every release, I would be surprised if they didn't at least try to reinvent the series if it starts to flag.

Yeah, I expect it's more of a brand at this point, so I wouldn't expect it to just go away. Slow down on entries, or take a year off and do an HD collection or something, maybe.

Also could just be Overwatch or MOBAs or whatnot pulling the audience away, since the big sales tend not to stem from the campaign.

[Ack]

Also could just be Overwatch or MOBAs or whatnot pulling the audience away, since the big sales tend not to stem from the campaign.

It's been looking to me like MOBAs, DOTAs, and the like have been slowly becoming the big thing in PC gaming for the last few years. It's a little unnerving as an FPS fan to watch their rise in popularity, but perhaps it's simply time to pass along the genre torch.

[TSTR]

Perhaps that shift could lead to more solid SP focused FPS games in the future? Fine by me.

[Xeogred]

I forgot about Overwatch, that's another good call. People were ready for change.

Perhaps that shift could lead to more solid SP focused FPS games in the future? Fine by me.

I'd say we're already seeing a comeback in 2016. Doom and Titanfall 2 had incredible campaigns. The new Wolfenstein was awesome and I think we're getting a sequel. The "immersive" side is still healthy and going strong with the Deus Ex games, Dishonored 2, and the upcoming Prey sounds absolutely amazing from a lot of things I've heard. System Shock is being remade and I think they plan to make a third one.

As a sci-fi fanboy I was always worried CoD was going to jump into the genre and sour it for me... well, looks like their attempt at it fell pretty flat. Even if I have heard cool things about the IW campaign and would like to check it out, I'm not dropping $60 on that. Still sounds like it has the "infinite" wave of enemies that I think is hot garbage game design and super boring, and that same old engine. etc, so I'm excited to check it out... for a bargain. But yeah I can't imagine Activision will try to hit sci-fi again. The more hardcore fans of the series seemed pretty pissed about it with IW and Black Ops 3.

Annual releases are a sure way to make me stop caring no matter what the IP is. Even if my beloved Zelda, or Metroid, etc, were yearly, I would lose interest and go elsewhere. Assassin's Creed is always the funniest example for me, since I thought the first one was very flawed but had a cool setup, then 2 and Brotherhood were incredible... but now I'm like 10 games behind, so I'm flatout done with the franchise and don't care anymore.

That and locking down three huge development teams solely for CoD... I feel sorry for those teams under Activision. I wonder if we can even fathom how many people are going to walk away from these teams having only worked on CoD for their entire game design career. Sounds like torture haha. But I'm sure some people enjoyed it and are proud of the work they did.