Sometimes, confirmation of a new videogame title can be so obvious, that you consider the prospect of it being not obvious. Then, when you think about how absurd it would be for it to be not obvious, you think how surprised you’d be if said game that will obviously be announced were not obvious and you didn’t see it coming. Then, you think about how ridiculous that is – obviously the obvious new game will be released without surprising you with the fact that hypothetically if it wasn’t obvious you’d be surprised. Right!? Yeah, that’s about how I feel right now.
In a move that shocks me in the above way but otherwise surprises nobody, Activision CEO Bobby Kottick confirmed yesterday that yes, there will be brand new Call of Duty and Skylanders games released in 2014. The announcement surfaced during Activision’s quarterly earnings call (the perfect time to reveal money-printing plans). Given that Skylanders: Giants and Call of Duty: Black Ops II pushed massive sales numbers this past year, sequels are only logical.
Kotick covered some other topics on the call as well, most notably commenting on how Blizzard is doing, and on Activision’s overall ability to brave the next-gen storm.
We are also in the process of a beta launching for our first major free-to-play game, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. However, we continue to believe that the fourth quarter this year presents a unique and challenging landscape due to increased competition and uncertainties surrounding the console transition. We are confident in our ability to navigate these challenges successfully, particularly in light of the recent completion of our transaction with Vivendi and the focus and flexibility provided by our return to independence.
Despite some confusingly lower-than-usual sales for Call of Duty: Ghosts thus far, I have no doubt Activision will continue its role as the successful and non-asinine counterpart to EA through 2014 and beyond.
What do you think? Is Activision smart enough to adapt with Call of Duty, or will the Guitar Hero fiasco repeat itself once more?
