Success in sales

[Paperclip1776]

I will definitely be in the strong minority on this topic but I want to see the opinions just to get a idea of where this site sways, especially since this community has a large hardcore presence.

Topic is success in sales. Call of Duty series sells millions of copies of games every year. It seems to be very unpopular with the hardcore fans to believe that CODs success is directly tied to sales, which I think tells a huge story related to how successful the franchise is. I believe that if the franchise was truly awful after a highly successful original game, then the success would take a huge dive after the first sequel and we wouldn't have the type of series we see today. Sure, the franchise, like any series, is not perfect. And maybe you hate COD games or what AAA games stand for. But my position is that financial success is directly tied to a successful series, at least over a substantial period of time. Yes, you have parents buying COD games for their 7 year old because they saw a commercial or heard of the series. You will always have the uninformed buy games but IMO, it won't ever be the majority, or get anywhere in the millions and millions of games sold for each game of the franchise.

I brought this topic up in the Chat room within PSNProfiles and I felt like I just killed someone. A lot of strong opinions to say the least. I guess I get tired of hearing the 'victim card' played - gamers that find things to hate on successful franchises. It seems they get wrapped up in the negativity around what a mainstream game is and feel like their passion is no longer special/unique, or worse, consider it a casual game for the casual/unknown gamer.

Long winded message, share your thoughts below if interested. Thanks everyone.

[Daigashadokuro]

You fail to realise that you've yet to produce any actual argument that supports your opinion that Call of Duty, as a franchise, is an enjoyable game with any sort of nuance. You keep relying on the fact that each iteration sells well without providing any evidence as to why that is the case. What evidence is there to suggest that there is an actual reason to play Call of Duty? You've told us that people buy it. Now tell us why people buy it - or better yet, why people should buy it.

Edited August 2, 2014 by Daigashadokuro

[nenugalimas]

The reason COD sells so well is because its an endless franchise that launches yearly. You buy a new COD, next thing you know there are 5 more of them. To stay up with the trend, people end up buying COD time and time again. COD maybe successful, but its successful for all the wrong reasons.

[Paperclip1776]

Well DAIGASHADOKURO, I personally buy it because I enjoy it. I haven't polled millions of people that buy COD games to understand why they buy them, but the one factor that everyone buys things are either for necessity or entertainment. Since video games would be under the entertainment category, that would give a strong indication that they are purchasing the game because they like it. What evidence other than polling millions of people are you looking for? If you are so confident that people buy it for some other reason, what do you think the reason is? What proof do I need to provide, it's an opinion. Maybe next time I'll spend thousands of dollars on a study just so I can "prove" my opinion.

So, where you do want to go from here, DAIGASHADOKURO? I know, you should get one of your Chat room "friends" to help you out and totally back up your opinion, that way you'll be right.

Thanks for your opinion, nenugalimas. Valid point, I liked your post.

[Daigashadokuro]

I asked only for some elaboration on your opinion. You didn't provide even one reason why you enjoy it. You clearly have no opinion of your own, as you enjoy things because you're meant to enjoy them; I hope you "enjoy" living in a Huxley dystopia. Call me back once you have an actual answer and not just a cop-out statement like "I enjoy it". What the hell does that even mean? You can't quantify a single good thing about it that compels you to buy each iteration. That's not enjoyment, that's social convention. Once you can rationalise your enjoyment and objectively critique a game beyond "I enjoy it", by all means, share your opinion. Elsewise, it adds nothing to the conversation.

[RHGSniperFox]

Well DAIGASHADOKURO, I personally buy it because I enjoy it. I haven't polled millions of people that buy COD games to understand why they buy them, but the one factor that everyone buys things are either for necessity or entertainment. Since video games would be under the entertainment category, that would give a strong indication that they are purchasing the game because they like it. What evidence other than polling millions of people are you looking for? If you are so confident that people buy it for some other reason, what do you think the reason is? What proof do I need to provide, it's an opinion. Maybe next time I'll spend thousands of dollars on a study just so I can "prove" my opinion.

So, where you do want to go from here, DAIGASHADOKURO? I know, you should get one of your Chat room "friends" to help you out and totally back up your opinion, that way you'll be right.

Thanks for your opinion, nenugalimas. Valid point, I liked your post.

When it comes to a debate, you need to be able to back up your opinion. You can't just say "X is good because I say it's good".

That doesn't fly. You want someone to understand your opinion? Explain why you have it.

Like I said in the chat before, sales don't mean a game is good. It means a game is popular. There are plenty of great games out there that didn't sell well.

Justin Bieber sells millions of records - does that mean his music is good? Transformers makes millions at the box office - does that mean it's a great, thought provoking film?

No.

Call of Duty sells millions because it's a heavily marketed title with a huge budget behind it. It has nothing to do with it being good. Does that mean CoD is bad? No.

Okami is an amazing title - but it flopped financially and the studio ended up closing down. ICO and Shadow of the Colossus are both great titles - neither sold well.

Sales =/= a marker for fun/entertainment.

[Paperclip1776]

DAIGASHADOKURO, for a person that writes intelligently, you have zero comprehension skills.  Zero. 

 

My whole point is about how success is tied to sales, nothing to do with reasons why I enjoy playing COD.  I admit, though, you are very confident when you are completely off topic.

 

To humor you though, so you can't use that as a pathetic cop-out yourself (I have faith you'll find other pathetic ways), here's WHY I ENJOY COD GAMES bro:  IMO, the games are very polished, I think they have cutting edge technology year after year that is not comparable to many other games, I think they find ways to keep the games fresh with new modes (i.e. Extinction) by tweaking a formula that works for millions of people without making huge changes, games are immersive, lots of onscreen action with little downtime, and I think the storylines on the campaigns are fantastic.

 

I expect your typical response to rip apart my opinion, which is totally fine.  Keep in mind though, that's not the discussion point in this thread - it's only about my position on success tied to sales, and I have yet to hear YOUR position.  You are focused on....but why did you enjoy it, you're not telling me why you enjoyed it.  Amazing you function in real life.  I figure that you're probably still in high school or first year in college and you're finally able to put some big words down in a chat room. 

 

So DAIGASHADOKURO, what off topic discussion can I humor you next?

Thank you for feedback, Fox.  I expected yet another strong opinionated Chat room regular to jump in the conversation.

 

I want to respectfully challenge some of your comments:

 

 

Your comment about Justin Bieber:  No, I don't particularly like Bieber but guess what, millions of people don't agree with you and I.  Transformers movie - You stated that doesn't mean its a great, though-provoking movie.  I totally agree with you, what's your point though?  Because you just made mine.  If your point is that in your opinion it was a crappy movie, great.  Doesn't mean that millions of other fans thought the same, and thus, they keep making more of them because of high sales....a lot of them.  If the first Transformers movie was amazing by all standards, and the second one was terrible, sure, the 2nd one might have made a lot of money based on the first movie, however, it would've died right there and then.  The 3rd one would very likely have not done so well and it would've gotten worse from there.  So, I think you made my point. 

 

The COD franchise is in its like 11th game (COD1, 2, and 3, W@W, MW1, 2, and 3, BO1 and 2, Ghosts, and now Advanced Warfare), no one would've bought MW3 if MW1 and 2 were terrible.  Again, you may not like it but millions of folks disagree with you, thus, I believe it's a successful franchise. 

 

Challenge me on this.  At the end of your "point", read it back to yourself and see if it's just your opinion on how crappy you think the game is, or is there actual content that proves that sales doesn't drive a successful franchise.  What franchise out there is selling a ton of stuff but you don't think they are successful?  And no, I don't think financial success vs. a successful franchise is separate, I think it's all ends up rolling together in the end.

[RHGSniperFox]

DAIGASHADOKURO, for a person that writes intelligently, you have zero comprehension skills.  Zero. 

 

My whole point is about how success is tied to sales, nothing to do with reasons why I enjoy playing COD.  I admit, though, you are very confident when you are completely off topic.

 

To humor you though, so you can't use that as a pathetic cop-out yourself (I have faith you'll find other pathetic ways), here's WHY I ENJOY COD GAMES bro:  IMO, the games are very polished, I think they have cutting edge technology year after year that is not comparable to many other games, I think they find ways to keep the games fresh with new modes (i.e. Extinction) by tweaking a formula that works for millions of people without making huge changes, games are immersive, lots of onscreen action with little downtime, and I think the storylines on the campaigns are fantastic.

 

I expect your typical response to rip apart my opinion, which is totally fine.  Keep in mind though, that's not the discussion point in this thread - it's only about my position on success tied to sales, and I have yet to hear YOUR position.  You are focused on....but why did you enjoy it, you're not telling me why you enjoyed it.  Amazing you function in real life.  I figure that you're probably still in high school or first year in college and you're finally able to put some big words down in a chat room. 

 

So DAIGASHADOKURO, what off topic discussion can I humor you next?

Here's the problem - Your logic is that "sales are everything". You think that because a game sells a ton, then it must be great - but this isn't true. There are plenty of things in this world that sell well, but are ultimately not that great.

Reality TV, for instance - ultimately the most useless for of television outside of a couple that actually result in a worthwhile prize, yet still going strong, because people are stupid. Meanwhile, shows that are actually good - that have substance - can barely survive for more than a few seasons.

Sales don't mean a game is good. It never will. You cannot judge a game solely on how many copies it sells. How many of those sales are people buying multiple copies just to resell them? How many are people who just collect them but don't play them? How many bought it and then turned around and took it back because they hated it?

You have no way of knowing these things. At all.

Like I said before - Call of Duty doesn't sell a lot because it's a good game. It sells a lot because it's heavily marketed [if you honestly think marketing has little effect on how much the series sells, you have some serious issues that a forum debate won't solve.]. You can't go into a store or read a magazine without seeing some kind of promotion for the latest entry in the series. Sodas, chips, fast food restaurants - things that people see and buy all the time constantly pushing it in your face and hyping it up into oblivion.

When your product is that widely exposed, it's going to sell a lot.

Is it a financial success? Of course. But, for the umpteenth time, that doesn't make it "good". If you enjoy the series, that's fine - but stop acting like sales mean everything. Sales don't make a game fun to play or engaging.

Edited August 2, 2014 by Fox

[PREDRAG-K]

OK, I can see from your posts and topics that you love CoD. That's great, but there is no need to attack other members over it. There are millions of people who will agree with you about CoD being great, and a million that will say the opposite. You can't expect everyone to enjoy the same thing.

As for the topic, I think sales equal success, but that doesn't mean everyone loves it. As someone said above, Justin Bieber sold millions upon millions of records. Does that mean I like Justin Bieber's music? Hell no. It just means there is a group of people (pre teen girls) who will buy his records, no matter what you say.

Same thing with CoD. Millions of people buy it every year, but it's always the same group of people. They'll buy the game every year, regardless of what is in it. They want a shooter where you can jump on and immediately start playing. The majority don't seem to care about the story, characters, or other features. They just want to go online and shoot some people. To me, that's mindless entertainment. Same as watching a Michael Bay movie, you go in to see bright colors, loud noises, and explosions. You don't watch for the story, or characters.

If people like this mindless entertainment, that's fine by me. I personally can't sit through it too long.

So yes, if something sells a lot, it's successful. Whether it's a quality product is left completely up to ones own opinion, and there is no such thing as a wrong opinion.

[SarDarniTron]

Hmmm interesting debate.

[Paperclip1776]

Thanks to everyone that continue to provide thought-provoking responses and a good debate on this sensitive topic.

 

I keep hearing that my position is, if a franchise sells millions of copies each year that I think it's a "good" game.  That's not what I'm trying to convey here.  Here's the quote that I copied from my first post of the thread:  "But my position is that financial success is directly tied to a successful series.....".  Although I think COD is a great series with great games, that's not my position on this thread.  My position I'm saying is that financial success is tied to a successful series.  You don't have to agree that it's a "good game" but you have to recognize that millions of others year after year don't agree with that position, thus, it's a successful game/series.

 

Also, I saw a comment above about how marketing has a lot to do with their success.  100% agree.  Marketing has a big impact on games, COD is everywhere, but if a company turned out a truly bad game year after year, you could market that game with whatever budget you wanted and it would still have terrible sales.  You must have a good product or most people won't buy it.  Perfect example, Guitar Hero series.  Was crazy popular in the beginning and heavily marketed throughout the lifecycle of the series, which was created by the same company (Activision) that publishes COD games, but the product just wasn't there after the umpteen iteration and no one bought it.  I can remember a ton of marketing on that series, even in the last few iterations but sales won't come if the product is bad, period. 

Edited August 24, 2014 by Paperclip1776

[mmico]

Cod Ghosts basically killed the franchise.

[AssassinShadow56]

It was a financial success, but let's be honest here, if it has a financial success, it means it's damn horrible. Expecially if it's a money-greeded company like Activi$ion (These bastards made Spyro look like a damn ogre). They're like, "hey what's the next COD game?" "High price, same s%$t, just new maps and weapon camos. They won't even notice the difference (Malefic laugh)".

Fun fact: I just basically said what COD is up there. In my opinion, COD is a god awful game, and if by now people haven't noticed the things I mentioned up there, they're damn stupid. But then again, this is the internet, so there's 2 things that can happen: You guys will s%#t on my opinion and say that I'm wrong, even though you don't have any proof. Or you will praise my opinion.

The only way the Internet works right here.

[Parker]

Everyone, if you can't debate without resorting to personal attacks it is probably best that you choose not to post unless you'd like me to make it so you can't post. 

 

It was a financial success, but let's be honest here, if it has a financial success, it means it's damn horrible. Expecially if it's a money-greeded company like Activi$ion (These bastards made Spyro look like a damn ogre). They're like, "hey what's the next COD game?" "High price, same s%$t, just new maps and weapon camos. They won't even notice the difference (Malefic laugh)".

Fun fact: I just basically said what COD is up there. In my opinion, COD is a god awful game, and if by now people haven't noticed the things I mentioned up there, they're damn stupid. But then again, this is the internet, so there's 2 things that can happen: You guys will s%#t on my opinion and say that I'm wrong, even though you don't have any proof. Or you will praise my opinion.

The only way the Internet works right here.

 

What if I "shit on" your opinion because I have proof that you are absolutely wrong? 

 

High price? Nope, same price as nearly every other AA game that is released. 

Same shit? Same engine, yes, but nearly everything else has been tweaked. You have to expect some sort of similarities between games within the same franchise. Go play WaW and then Blops II and tell me they look and play exactly the same. If you say they do, you're a liar. 

New Maps? Yep, some remastered or re-imagine old ones too.

New Weapon camo? Yep.

 

You're also forgetting new guns that get added, the different character movements, different tactical equipment, multiplayer balancing, network differences, a completely new campaign among many other things. 

 

Answer this question please. If CoD is just a simple copy and paste job, why do Activision pay 3 different developers and give them 3 years to make a single game? Surely it would be more financially beneficial to simply have one studio do all the copy and pasting, right? 

 

 

Parker

[AssassinShadow56]

You're also forgetting new guns that get added, the different character movements, different tactical equipment, multiplayer balancing, network differences, a completely new campaign among many other things. 

 

Answer this question please. If CoD is just a simple copy and paste job, why do Activision pay 3 different developers and give them 3 years to make a single game? Surely it would be more financially beneficial to simply have one studio do all the copy and pasting, right? 

 

 

Parker

 

Apparently, they need more than one studio to do the Copy and Pasting. Kidding, but seriously, I knew my opinion would be s%#tted on, as every opinion posted on the internet. But hey, I will try to answer your question. Also, 3 devs? And they can't do ANY BETTER than almost the same thing in the past games? Holy s%#t... got to get my own game developping career, because APPARENTLY IT'S THAT EASY!! But yeah, the 3 devs thing. One of the devs makes the maps. Another the animations. And another the guns. Which let's be damn honest here, ANYONE that can design and draw can do. Just these 2 things. No wait, I forgot time. Nevermind folks! I was wrong! It's 3 things!

Bam! There you go, why they pay 3 devs, that apparently, can't stop making it seem like everything they put it down our throats every year... Welp, atleast I know what I want to do, give me a development kit and I will make a damn game.

[Dr_Mayus]

 

Answer this question please. If CoD is just a simple copy and paste job, why do Activision pay 3 different developers and give them 3 years to make a single game? Surely it would be more financially beneficial to simply have one studio do all the copy and pasting, right? 

 

 

Parker

One team hits Ctrl-C, the next hits Ctrl-V and the last one hits Ctrl-P

 

 

Seriously though I have only played MW2 and personally didn't see what the hype was about THAT BEING SAID obviously there are others out there that like the franchise enough to keep buying it. Let those people keep buying it and for those that hate the franchise STOP BUYING IT. I see so many people complain how generic COD is, then buy the next one and then complain how generic it is. Do you think Activision cares that you went on a forum board and complained their game sucks? No, they care if their game sits on store shelves not moving.

[Lil_Mermaid_Girl]

There are obviously millions of people who enjoy playing CoD. If not then they'd quit buying it. So it must be good in their opinions. The whole "people vote with their wallets" thing. The OP doesn't need to give their reasons for liking CoD because millions of people vote with their wallets yearly. It may not be your cup of tea, and that's fine, but that doesn't make it bad. 

 

The problem is that most "hardcore trophy hunters" don't like CoD, and possibly don't like competitive online games at all (and usually HATE online trophies).

 

But there are lots of hardcore gamers. Some spent 100s of hours getting to level 30+ on trophies and others spend 100s of hours on each new CoD. Both would be considered hardcore.

Edited August 24, 2014 by Lil_Mermaid_Girl

[stitchesnscars]

To piggyback what Parker said. This franchise more than any other gets killed for adding nothing new between game iterations but the same critique is almost never given for any other franchise. I like Cod and BF but what did battlefield do that was so different between bf3 & bf4 that allowed it to dodge the same criticisms?

 

 

 

 

OK, I can see from your posts and topics that you love CoD. That's great, but there is no need to attack other members over it. There are millions of people who will agree with you about CoD being great, and a million that will say the opposite. You can't expect everyone to enjoy the same thing.

As for the topic, I think sales equal success, but that doesn't mean everyone loves it. As someone said above, Justin Bieber sold millions upon millions of records. Does that mean I like Justin Bieber's music? Hell no. It just means there is a group of people (pre teen girls) who will buy his records, no matter what you say.

Same thing with CoD. Millions of people buy it every year, but it's always the same group of people. They'll buy the game every year, regardless of what is in it. They want a shooter where you can jump on and immediately start playing. The majority don't seem to care about the story, characters, or other features. They just want to go online and shoot some people. To me, that's mindless entertainment. Same as watching a Michael Bay movie, you go in to see bright colors, loud noises, and explosions. You don't watch for the story, or characters.

If people like this mindless entertainment, that's fine by me. I personally can't sit through it too long.

So yes, if something sells a lot, it's successful. Whether it's a quality product is left completely up to ones own opinion, and there is no such thing as a wrong opinion.

You make some good points however i disagree with what you are calling mindless entertainment. There are plenty of games out there that dont rely on story or characters, the first video games were founded on just picking it up an playing it.  Obviously games have evolved over time such that the story is somewhat integrated into the game play  but the primary concern should always be that the game aspect comes first.

 

As to the game being "mindless" there are scores of youtube channels dedicated to different gameplay strategies and analysis of this franchise. The entire MLG community has even based a lot of their play on this specific game. I don't doubt that there are some people that like to "blow shit up" but lets not paint everyone who likes the franchise with the same brush.

 

I personally am not spending $60 on a game for the primarily for story and character development (maybe a really good RPG) when books and movies offer a better of both at a fraction of the cost. 

Edited August 24, 2014 by stitchesnscars

[Parker]

Apparently, they need more than one studio to do the Copy and Pasting. Kidding, but seriously, I knew my opinion would be s%#tted on, as every opinion posted on the internet. But hey, I will try to answer your question. Also, 3 devs? And they can't do ANY BETTER than almost the same thing in the past games? Holy s%#t... got to get my own game developping career, because APPARENTLY IT'S THAT EASY!! But yeah, the 3 devs thing. One of the devs makes the maps. Another the animations. And another the guns. Which let's be damn honest here, ANYONE that can design and draw can do. Just these 2 things. No wait, I forgot time. Nevermind folks! I was wrong! It's 3 things!

Bam! There you go, why they pay 3 devs, that apparently, can't stop making it seem like everything they put it down our throats every year... Welp, atleast I know what I want to do, give me a development kit and I will make a damn game.

 

Your opinion isn't being shit on, we're debating the factual inaccuracies that you brought up. You can think CoD is the worst game of all time because that is an opinion, but when you inaccurately claim that the developers just copy and paste while only making new maps and camos, prepare to be called out on it because that isn't an opinion, it is just plain wrong. 

 

The rest of your post is just incoherent babbling and it makes it very hard to take anything you post seriously. I don't know if you're intentionally being difficult due to your CoD bias or you're just that ignorant, either way it comes across as very childish and still doesn't explain why Activision would pay 3 developers (and let them work on the game for 3 years) when they could just pay one if the series was truly just a copy and paste job.  

 

 

Parker

[geogw]

Sales don't mean a game is good, it means a game was successful, if it's motive was to make money. 

But there are so many hidden gems that sales never tell a full story. 

CoD is like farmville for the console gamers lol, casual, easy, fast paced and easily accessible fun. That's a far as it goes, it's not a great game as games go, but it's fucking amazing and doing what it's built for; which is casual, easy, fast paced and easily accessible fun.

 

As it turns out, millions of people love games that are casual, easy, fast paced and easily accessible.. also it's fucking advertised everywhere, combine those things and you'll get a fuck ton of sales. 

 

Not the greatest franchise ever, story and quality wise, but it's the best thing on the market if you're looking for casual, easy, fast paced and easily accessible and fun games.

[Paperclip1776]

I think the moderator, Parker, nailed it on the head: 

 

-  Same price as all the rest of the AAA games including its direct competitors

-  Franchise formula is the same but the games are totally different from each other; settings (MW series, BO series, Ghost, W@W, and now Advanced Warfare).  If you owned a company, you would not change the formula if millions and millions of people are buying the game on each iteration. No one continues to buy games they don't like, no one.  It doesn't make logical sense.

-  Multiplayer 'feels the same' but doesn't look the same and has improved features year after year; balancing, perks available, characters, weapons, modes, etc.  Go to BO1 multiplayer and then jump into Ghosts or MW2 and see the differences.

-  AssassinsShadow56 mentioned above that because he thinks its the same iteration year after year, it must be easy to make billions as a developer to 'copy and paste' year after year.  Questions to consider:  If it's so easy, why isn't every single developer doing the same easy steps as Activision?  Why don't they all make billions of dollars if it's so easy?  Why is there developers every year that close shop because they didn't have enough sales to keep their doors open?  Heck, if it was that easy, and I was a developer that was artistic and really trying to put out a strong product as many do, I would just 'throw together' a FPS shooter like COD so that I don't have to close my doors so I can save up enough money to do what I'm passionate about again.  Bottom line, it's not easy and putting together a game like COD year after year costs hundreds of millions of dollars.  I'll say that again, hundreds of millions of dollars!

 

I think for hardcore gamers that are not in the competitive environment, there's a certain reputation that they need, or feel they need, to uphold.  I think that if they "liked" COD, they would not feel like they are true hardcore gamers and would be out with their close nit circle of friends if they felt anything different.  I think a lot of them don't have any merit (some, however, do make logical points) as they hide behind their keyboard knowing that they don't have to face anyone in a real debate.  I'm a very social person and would love an opportunity to talk to the folks that differ from my opinion to really understand where they're coming from.  My guess, most would run from this as it's very easy to bash a company with no real merits.

[Toxi]

I personally don't play the series anymore, the last one I bought was MW3. I'm indifferent towards the games and can see why people enjoy them, and why others stay clear. At the end of the day it's good mindless fun for the masses, it appeals to every demographic, with marketing telling us it's the best game ever each year and a must have, kids will always need the latest instalment or risk being seen as "uncool."

In my opinion much like Angry Birds it's a fad, the game does one thing, and it does it well. It's not meant to be groundbreaking. We'll all just have to wait and see what comes along and replaces it. Unfortunately that will probably be another mindless shooter. Each to their own though.

[CasuallyRayla]

The reason I usually end up buying a CoD game is because its easy to pick up and play, put down for a while, then come back and play it again.  I'm not saying I find them to be great games, but they are certainly the most accessible to get a group of friends together to play a few rounds.  That in my opinion is why they're so successful is because anyone can play it.  Its a casual, easy, fast paced shooter for pretty much everyone.  Plus the tons of advertising just leads to sales.

 

You buy them knowing they're not groundbreaking.  You buy them because it does what it does well as being the casual, easy, and accessible shooter known as Call of Duty. 

[Light_Infinite_]

if game sell it mean people like it , mindless entertainment don't think so lol if the game fun and people like the games they well go and buy it ,i personally enjoy the games and bought them , going to keep selling it have a strong fanbase and people how enjoy there games ,i see no fucking problem .the cod game are quality games and as well with base of people who enjoy the game ,as well as a very accessible games, is going to sell 

[Paperclip1776]

Very passionate discussion, thanks to everyone that's participated!  Strong opinions on both sides.

 

A lot of the comments are pulling my initial argument out of topic.  I constantly hear people say that a game that sells a lot is not necessarily a good game.  My position, as I stated in the very first post on this thread, is that sales = financial success.  Although I agree that sales = a good game, that's not what I'm saying in this topic.  

 

Let me know what you think.  Again, I know most hardcore gamers on this site don't appreciate COD as a great game because "it's the same for every new title" or "it's the same formula over and over again".  I would remind those so called hardcore gamers that this is the first game to appeal to mainstream, going to eSports on ESPN, and it's what keeps the financial wheel turning for the industry.  It's games like this that spawn the games that they love, indie.  Lots of indie games came from programmers or game producers that quit a big game company to start up their own creative vision, which is awesome.  Keeping games fresh, interesting, and different is also a good attribute to have in the industry but your giants like COD keep the financial wheel turning.

Edited September 16, 2014 by Paperclip1776