CoD: Black Ops II Breaks $500 Million Mark in One Day

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I know there's going to be a lot of anti-COD comments in here, but I bought BO2, I am actually having fun playing it on the PC. I like to play it at the end of the day, it's quick to get a game, and not hard to play; it's a good casual shooter.
 

A Bad Day

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I'm still trying to understand how CoD is such a successful brand despite some negativity. Not sure if studying how it's successful would help me publish an interesting mobile app game (will be ported to desktop first, then to the mobile devices).
 
I'll be honest, COD games get a bunch of **** but at the end of the day, it's a game that many people will buy which make the community huge, and on the consoles, that's what makes it really fun tbh. Sure it doesn't take much skill, but that's what makes it so fun, at least in my opinion. I do like BF3 more, but it's not for everyone meaning the large scale FPS maps.
 

A Bad Day

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[citation][nom]edogawa[/nom]You need to find the right target group for your game an advertise to them; that's probably your best bet.[/citation]

The question, how do I interest them? How do I convince them that it's not another "me-too!" or some cash-cow scam?
 
[citation][nom]A Bad Day[/nom]I'm still trying to understand how CoD is such a successful brand despite some negativity. Not sure if studying how it's successful would help me publish an interesting mobile app game (will be ported to desktop first, then to the mobile devices).[/citation]

Activision's marketing team is incredible. It's easy to sell CoD because CoD has a history of delivering exactly what is promised. CoD is a fairly shallow series as far as gameplay goes but it's energetic and story driven, which are very appealing elements for gamers who don't spend 8-12 hour stretches playing games at a time and simply want some brainless fun.

There's an age old saying which is very, very applicable here:

If it isn't broken, don't fix it

EA has consistently made this mistake and has driven many franchises into the ground as a result. Activision does not make this mistake, and has been setting records as a result. The CoD formula is well established and hasn't changed at all since CoD 2.

Most of the negativity leveled at CoD comes from hardcore gamers who won't play it anyway.
 

DirectXtreme

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[citation][nom]A Bad Day[/nom]I'm still trying to understand how CoD is such a successful brand despite some negativity. Not sure if studying how it's successful would help me publish an interesting mobile app game (will be ported to desktop first, then to the mobile devices).[/citation]
Call of Duty is successful because of the following factors:
1. It's accessible - a key ingredient to making a game successful is to make it n00b/idiot-friendly. This is the biggest reason Call of Duty is so successful, it caters to people who previously weren't gamers or who are gamers that don't want to play a challenging game (AKA casuals).
2. It's mass marketed - Spend 9/10 (exaggeration, probably) of your game development budget on hyping up the game through marketing and advertising with advertisements that will give the player a sense of how much of a bad*** they are when they will be playing the game. This strategy is effective when you have built up a legion of sheepish customers who will buy your next big game no matter what.
3. Its developers are lazy - Use the source code of an ancient, irrelevant engine, tweak it a little, copy and paste anywhere from 10-75% the assets from the previous game you made with that engine, tweak them, and release the (un)finished package (parts of the game will be made available later, but for purchase as DLC). This strategy saves time and money that would otherwise be allocated into developing new game assets.
 
I sort of enjoy cod games once in a while. Sometimes you just need to have a good casual game to play that just allows you to simply shoot stuff. I have BF3 aswell and its good. But when I don't feel like playing as a team and just going off on my own, instead of being a detriment to my team in BF3 I go on cod and get my lonestar kicks their where its generally accepted.

And I like the not so serious attitude.
 

tomfreak

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[citation][nom]edogawa[/nom]Wow, people are thumbing down my previous comment because I said I enjoyed the game, that's pretty low.[/citation]people are ridiculous for their own stupid reason. I guess u have to deal with it.
 

greghome

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Meanwhile.....Microsoft's Windows 8 has set a new record for Windows launches.....for actually not surpassing the previous Windows in sales......
 

Axelion

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I agree that CoD is intended to casual people. Noobs can play the game easily without dying too much. Battlefield on the other hand is a harder game and intended towards veteran players.
 
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uhmm.. yea this is not based on key activating, this is based off of sales to stores... ie 500 mil worth of stock.

i would like to know the activation amount instead... its a much more accurate statistic.
 

Gundam288

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I can see the appeal to BO2 given that they have zombies with it again which adds value IMHO. I have not bought a CoD game since MW2, and nor do I intend to.

As to the "$500 Million", I have my doubts. Possable? yes. Likely given the recent shafting of CoD elite players? not likely.



In other news, Chris Robert's Star Citizen now has 1 day left of crowdfunding and is currently over $4,520,000 in pledges.
 

luissantos

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All other aspects aside, the most shocking thing for me here is that they've actually been getting away with selling CoD at 10 eur higher than any other game out there (59.99 vs 49.99) AND they ask for another 49.99 for the "Season Pass"... if you buy the Deluxe Edition (69.99 eur) and the Season Pass then you're looking at dropping 120 eur on this game.

I usually don't even buy the games I like until they drop to the 20-30 eur range (which usually means 3-4 months after release)... I can't fathom what kind of person falls for this sort of money-grabbing.
 
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