Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare might be a new franchise within a franchise, it might be taking the series in a new direction, but everyone thought it would perform better than it is doing. During the first weekend since its release, CoD: IW had just 25 percent of the player base of its predecessor, Black Ops 3.
Now granted Black Ops 3 is one of the most successful games ever and one of the more popular CoD games in that series too, but still, IW is performing very poorly. Black Ops 3 managed around 64,000 concurrent players when it was released last year and enjoyed many tens of thousands of players for weeks afterwards. In comparison, Infinite Warfare topped out at just 15,000 over the weekend, with regular player numbers far lower.
This means Euro Truck Simulator 2 was way ahead of it. A game about driving trucks for hours at a time, which was released several years ago, has more people playing it than the latest Cal of Duty right now.
We're not complaining, we're just surprised.
With many typical CoD players not picking up and certainly not playing the latest release, it begs the question: will they jump ship to alternatives like Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2? If so, this could be a real turning point in the shooter industry that sees Battlefield storm ahead for a few generations.
It could also be an indication that shooters in general aren't quite as popular as they once were, with players growing tired of the yearly refreshes.
What do you think? Is CoD part of a dying breed, or just the weakling in the pack?
