The upcoming transition into a new generation of consoles is futzing with pre-order numbers for Call of Duty: Ghosts, according to CEO of Activision Publishing, Eric Hirshberg. During his company’s earnings call yesterday, Hirshberg noted that pre-orders for Ghosts are “well below the record-setting pace set by Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 last year,” and that the impending arrival of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are to blame.
“Our quantitative consumer research indicates that hesitation amongst past COD pre-orderers is primarily due to not knowing which platform they will be playing on, which is natural at this time in the console transition,” he said. Despite the lower pre-order numbers, Hirshberg noted that “other key engagement metrics,” such as the number of people playing per month and per day, the amount of DLC sales and community engagement, are all higher than previous years. He also added that pre-orders are more than double that of the original Call of Duty: Black Ops, which was last time Activision introduced a new Call of Duty sub-brand.
Activision isn’t the first publisher to cite next-gen consoles for lower pre-order numbers. EA Sports brand president Peter Moore recently made similar statements, reporting “softness” in pre-orders for current-gen sports titles as we get closer to the launch of the PS4 and Xbox One.
