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Analysts Say Call Of Duty & The FPS Genre ‘Seem Tired’

Macquarie Securities’ Ben Schachter and other analysts, including Michael Pachter, have “significant concerns” toward Activision’s Call of Duty series and the FPS (first-person shooter) genre as a whole. Schacter believes that Call of Duty has reached its peak in 2011 and will have a hard time trying to expand its audience. Below are Schacter’s six reasons as to why he thinks Call of Duty: Black Ops will always be the most successful title in the franchise’s history:

  1. HD hardware and software as a whole have been declining all year (it is not just weak Wii sales that are impacting the industry)
  2. Lifetime unit sales of Modern Warfare 3 are slightly below Black Ops
  3. The genre seems tired
  4. The futursitic setting may not have the same appeal for some
  5. The macro economic environment is causing some gamers to hold back on upgrades
  6. Currency fluctuations mean that European sales are worth less to ATVI shareholders

87 thoughts on “Analysts Say Call Of Duty & The FPS Genre ‘Seem Tired’”

      1. fps like cod are mind numbing and repetitive. my personal opinion i think fps sucks there is no challenge all you do is run around and shoot people that’s it

        1. Not all shooters, shooters like halo and metroid prime involve strategy. I’m sure there’s more but these two are the only two I really know about.

          1. Halo?!no Metroid?! yes for a company who doesnt really bother with FPS I think Nintendo has one of the best FPS on the market, great storyline, an actual reason as to why S.A. Is a bada$$ and puzzles emplimented in the journey instead of “you start here, kill everyone walk this linear pre determined level, you end here”

            1. The levels aren’t pre-determined. you can take any route in Halo. In every Halo except Reach, they are generally levels that have an objective like in Metroid, and you can tackle them in a lot of different ways. Maybe you should ACTUALLY play Halo before you talk about it not not being Strategic and being linear…i’d MUCH rather play Halo than Metroid

    1. Exactly. In fact, the last two years have been great for those who are after *different* shooters, such as Bulletstorm, GoldenEye 007, RAGE, Resistance 3, Spec Ops: The Line, Syndicate, The Darkness II, Gotham City Impostors, Vanquish and so on.

      What’s tired is the modern warfare (lowercase intended) FPS, pretty much the same as the World War II-themed FPS turned out to be a few years ago.

      What irks me is that decrying shooters has become something cool to say. Every wanker out there says it without even thinking. Then Take-Two reports that Spec Ops sold less than expected, or Epic says that Bulletstorm didn’t sell enough to pull People Can Fly out of a Gears of War prequel to work on Bulletstorm II… And we end up with Black Ops II and Battlefield 4 and Medal of Honor: Warfighter. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

      And even after saying this, there’ll be people replying to this just to say how this or that game I mentioned is so-and-so. Please, pay attention. It doesn’t matter if GoldenEye 007 isn’t as great as the original. What matters is that it isn’t your run-of-the-mill modern warfare shooter. If it fails everyone loses.

    1. Why not platformers? Or hack n’ slash games? Or even racing ones? There are TONS of these out there every year.

      But it’s cooler to complain about FPSes, right? As opposed to notice how Fez is the 1.000.000.00th quirky platformer to come out in digital download services in the last three years?

      Be smart. The truth is “Give modern war-themed FPSes a rest until you come with something truly new to the genre, pretty pretty please?”

      1. Aeolus likes to suck off monkey dicks, and the monkey is Icy Dead People, and they also seem to be a idiots

        Platformers? Are you kidding me? The only platformers I can think off are Mario, Rayman, and indie games, do you know of any more? And hack and slash games? I think Skyrim has been the only hack and slash game in years! Oh, and the infamous racing games, when was the last time you played a racing game crossed with zombies, like FPS games?
        Quit defending FPS, and realize that there are just a couple of mainstream games coming out this year that are not FPS.
        Oh, and Fez? Do you want to give INDIE developers a rest? While were at it, why not give the whole movie industry a rest. Or maybe let’s close iTunes down for a couple of months. If you didn’t realize, indie games don’t apply to mass produced ”the same genre” games, SINCE THEY ARE INDIE DEVELOPERS!

        1. I’m not against platformers or anything, I love them but there is also Kirby, Sonic, Little Big Planet, Ratchet & Clank, Skylanders & Donkey Kong ect.

      2. Nintendo is better at Platform Games, and thats why the sell well, same with RPG and JRPG, they’re more original than FPS/TPS games.

        There’s just too many FPS/TPS games out there, going as far as to making Modern Warfare 2 and 3 then Black Operatives is just boring, they’re all copying each other and repeating the same old cycle of shoot this and that and mission complete.

      3. If anything they should make more platformers.
        FPS are overrated, dumb and IMO a threat to the gaming industry.

      4. Because every single FPS plays out the same. There’s no difference. If they at least tried to do something to make them stand out from the other FPS titles so would it be ok, but I have not seen anything like that for the last 2 years. And that’s as long as I have disliked FPS as a genre.

    1. No they’re not, they’re not any more original that Platformer’s and JRPG’s. You’re just repeating the same old cycle of shoot this shoot that and mission complete. THAT is fucking boring! Same game, different title and added perks.

      1. no what he meant was most analysts said that, now there 6 years late to say that there not????? what happen to yes there “original unlike Nintendo games they need to get with the time”

  1. Aeolus likes to suck off monkey dicks, and the monkey is Icy Dead People, and they also seem to be a idiots

    I agree with Ben Schachter, and I disagree with Michael Pachter (That’s how biased I find him.). BTW, what’s with ”achter” in every analysts surname? Is analyst some pseudo-family run business?

  2. Still need to try a FPS game, having a wii sure does make you miss alot. But when the Wii U comes out, im getting mass effect, if its digital, its a bonus!

    1. I don’t own a wii, but I know that you can get the metroid prime collection, just about every COD, and 2 games called conduit. Those are the best fps for wii so you could try these out if you want.

  3. “HD hardware and software as a whole have been declining all year (it is not just weak Wii sales that are impacting the industry)”

    how is wii sales hurting has to do with fps games, most fps don’t even come to wii.
    PATCHER!!!!!!

    does in anyone know there a new console heading there way that is impacting the current console sales?

    1. “the industry” refers to the video game industry as a whole, and not just the fps genre. Although I do slightly disagree as the 3DS continues to sell well worldwide week after week, and with the Wii U just around the corner, the industry will receive a great boost.

  4. how the fuck is weak wii sales impacting the industry. it’s nintendo’s console therefore nintendo’s problem. as for the tired out fps genre, that has been obvious for years.

  5. i think people are mad because fps does so well that other genres dont even stand a chance. but i love racing and platformers the most and fps would come third on my list but i dont even understand why people say fps games are tired. i feel if u dont want fps games dont fuckin buy them buy final fantasy or some bullshit like that. if fps games wasent so hot 360 and ps3 wouldent be the shit this gen besides i know many nintendo owners my self included who love the FPS genre. so like i said if u dont like FPS games FUCK U BUY SOMETHING ELSE.

    1. I think you’re missing the point of the article. More people are getting tired of FPSs, so new FPS games aren’t getting as many sales as they would have 3-5 years ago.

    2. Fps games are terrible with dual analog magnificent with motion people is not the games upgrade to motion its way better

      1. What makes you think dual analog shooters are terrible. That control scheme is so much better than motion, motion is not accurate enough to be a sniper, where you need the precision of analog sticks.

        1. Oh, lol. That’s like either holding a lighter version of the sniper yourself, or controlling it remotely with some sticks.

    3. I dislike FPS because I don’t find the fun in them. The reason I hate them is because they get so much attention so the whole industry stops progressing.

  6. Now they notice? Wow. I think it’s that too many people have been making FPS games so a lot of them come off as generic. I like FPS games but the genre has been getting flooded. And while I do hope for some awesome FPS games on Wii U (besides Zombi U and Aliens: Colonial Marines, both of which I’m excited to get!!) I’m also hoping for more classic full 3D action adventure games like so many that came out for the N64. I’m currently working on a review for one of those games. So far Batman Arkham City: Armored Edition and Lego City Undercover are looking like amazing 3D action adventure games and hopefully the Legend of Zelda Wii U game will be amazing as well, preferably a more open Zelda game like Ocarina of Time.

  7. I love fps games like Geist, with a really great story, funny puzzles, unique multiplayer and awesome gameplay.
    don’t kill the fps games just make them more unique.

  8. I think that all of the genres are tired now. What we need is something new! Like an fps platformer sandbox rpg now that would be cool.

    1. I can see where you are going with this. Take Borderlands, for example. That game is an FPS and a RPG, and, despite the fact it was buggy as hell, it sold almost to par with Call of Duty.

  9. I agree. I happen to play CoD and it gets boring and I really too many people play it. All the teens that play it are jerks. I love Mario WAY more!

  10. I bet people that hate on FPS never played the following: BioShock, Quake, Metroid Prime, Halo, BulletStorm, Doom, Wolfenstein. Counter Strike, Half-Life, Serious Sam, Borderlands, Red Faction, TimeSplitters, Unreal Tournament, Duke Nukem.

  11. It’s not really the games I hate, it’s the players.
    Specially american servers.
    They take fps games so seriously and makes up these rediculously idiotic rules that doesn’t even exist in the game.
    ” You can’t use grenades, don’t knife, don’t jump, don’t run, don’t camp, do camp, no rockets, team work” and so on.

    Just play the fucking game!
    If you want real life, join the army, I bet there is plenty of room.

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