Activision blamed WW2 setting for CoD: Vanguard's "failure"

This story about misplaced blame, boiled down, in 1:39 minutes.

What's the fuss?

The latest release of Call of Duty didn't meet sales expectations for its publisher, and their reasoning seems a bit out of touch.

The situation

The legendary first person shooter franchise Call of Duty is so dominant in the gaming world largely because a new iteration is released every year.

Each game usually takes place in a different time period with a few new bells and whistles.
Call of Duty is so popular that it very often sells the most out of any game each year, with over 400 million units sold in total.

Although the latest Call of Duty was the top selling game of 2021, it didn't meet the sales expectations of its publisher Activision-Blizzard.

2021's Call of Duty: Vanguard sold around 36% less than 2020's Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War.
The company blamed the game's World War 2 setting and that it didn't resonate with the Call of Duty community.

Boiling it down

In their defence, Activision is partly right.

A survey conducted by major gaming conferences concluded that 24% of 671 respondents were not interested in games set in WW2.
Call of Duty already has 8 games in its roster previously set in wartime.

Activision is also overlooking some obvious outcry from the community.

With a new CoD releasing a new game every year, gamers get tired of the formula which leads them to engage with other games as substitutes.
Coupled with a perceived lack of innovation, the lack of desire to revisit the franchise may have driven Activision's decision to not release a CoD in 2023.

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