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Why do people keep buying Call of Duty?

jixmixfix

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Modern Warfare 3 hit record sales on the first week of release. The game reached 1 billion in sales in 16 days. The game is just a rehashed version of MW2 so why does it sell so much? this is a serious question.
 

Rail Tracer

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Don't know. Most of the gaming for FPS is mainly playing online with others anyways, right?
 

swordpath

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Because people loved all the Modern Warfare games and continue to. It has immense replay value, as it's an online FPS. New maps, and subtle changes between each released are enough to compel people to buy it. Especially around the Christmas holiday, when people can receive it as a gift versus paying for it. I had MW2 and luckily my brother got MW3 so I didn't have to, but I would have gotten it myself if I needed to.
 

Jack427

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Awesome single player, awesome multiplayer, awesome special ops, awesome graphics, awesome characters, awesome everything.
 

EcK

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It's a brand. Brands play on the way social animals work. The more episodes the more we trust it, the more recommendations from friends it gets, the more people buy it.
It also works abit like a fad, these are games with a low competency threshold: characters regenerate after a few seconds etc. Yet the budget allocated to the games is extremely high due to the proven record of success making it a relatively low risk for investors. This inflow of funds allows to hire talents\guys to add the the ambiance, musics, voices, etc and script the game to keep the player stimulated and immersed in a way that is disproportional to the actual skill required, making the experience a good return on investment in terms of reward.

Last but not least wargames, especially with a first person for extra immersion are pretty much designed to work on the 'male warrior' meme that has been part of our culture for well, thousands of years in a form or another. one could argue that as soon as a warfare-like behavior evolved and coincided with the ability to evolve basic culture games like call of duty found the root of their success.
 

EcK

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Then it's a an equilibrium \ dynamic (depends how you view the system).
Imagine that the initial state of the system is this, odd mix of chance, talent and promotion leading to the success of the first call of duty. Then they take the same formula but enhance it. The studio and their backers get more human and technical resources. Also since the basics have been worked out the team can now focus on enhancements. So the random factor diminishes as the brand grows stronger and whatever people say about 'sheer talent' you cannot build a rocket without material. the call of duty people sure have lots of material on their hands.

And as each new episode comes out the new game is more trusted than the last in the same way we would trust an individual given a reliable track of success\cooperation. Issue is it is just called call of duty but nothing tells the end customer than 'call of duty' is made by the same people now, I haven't checked but it most probably is not the case.

It's also about the frequency or release: enough to have people grow impatient for the next episode YET maintain their interest (basically once a year). That is something only a very high budget and more importantly tried formula can do. Production time for a totally new concept, even with as enormous a budget would probably be too high.
 

AOA

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Modern Warfare 3 hit record sales on the first week of release. The game reached 1 billion in sales in 16 days. The game is just a rehashed version of MW2 so why does it sell so much? this is a serious question.

I don't know but I didn't buy it.
 

jixmixfix

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Because people loved all the Modern Warfare games and continue to. It has immense replay value, as it's an online FPS. New maps, and subtle changes between each released are enough to compel people to buy it. Especially around the Christmas holiday, when people can receive it as a gift versus paying for it. I had MW2 and luckily my brother got MW3 so I didn't have to, but I would have gotten it myself if I needed to.

The game is quake 3 with military guns it's not realistic it's an arcade shooter that gets boring after half an hour. I'm not saying the game is bad but it has mediocre mechanics, physics and graphics with pretty explosions and high end production.
 

jixmixfix

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Then it's a an equilibrium \ dynamic (depends how you view the system).
Imagine that the initial state of the system is this, odd mix of chance, talent and promotion leading to the success of the first call of duty. Then they take the same formula but enhance it. The studio and their backers get more human and technical resources. Also since the basics have been worked out the team can now focus on enhancements. So the random factor diminishes as the brand grows stronger and whatever people say about 'sheer talent' you cannot build a rocket without material. the call of duty people sure have lots of material on their hands.

And as each new episode comes out the new game is more trusted than the last in the same way we would trust an individual given a reliable track of success\cooperation. Issue is it is just called call of duty but nothing tells the end customer than 'call of duty' is made by the same people now, I haven't checked but it most probably is not the case.

It's also about the frequency or release: enough to have people grow impatient for the next episode YET maintain their interest (basically once a year). That is something only a very high budget and more importantly tried formula can do. Production time for a totally new concept, even with as enormous a budget would probably be too high.

The problem is the game has been around for years now and it's the same engine with the same graphics and game mechanics yet each installment sells millions of copies and breaks the record. I think activation treats their games like gambling and has made a game that is addicting similar to going to a casino. Something doesn't have to be good to be addicting look at how crappy slot machines are they are no fun at all yet they are addicting.
 

Stigmata

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It's because the online aspects adds a dynamic variable to something that would otherwise grow to be repetitive and stale overtime. Granted I haven't played them very extensively at all, but I imagine it's the sense community (however vague) that keeps the dedicated fan base coming back.
 

EcK

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Well, if graphics was really the key to success Nintendo should be part of history. If there is a human nature in an environment with limited resources it only makes sense that some situation would thrive upon the specificities of this nature\structure more than others. And isnt it a very human thing to identify patterns and use them to one's/the species advantage?
 

swordpath

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The game is quake 3 with military guns it's not realistic it's an arcade shooter that gets boring after half an hour. I'm not saying the game is bad but it has mediocre mechanics, physics and graphics with pretty explosions and high end production.

Who said it was realistic? Who said realism was its primary selling point? If people think it's totally realistic, they're fooled. I play it because it can be a load of fun (especially when playing with people you know and letting the whole competitive aspect enter the equation), as I believe is the main motivation for others to play it.

Have you actually played the game or are you an outsider looking in?
 

jixmixfix

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Who said it was realistic? Who said realism was its primary selling point? If people think it's totally realistic, they're fooled. I play it because it can be a load of fun (especially when playing with people you know and letting the whole competitive aspect enter the equation), as I believe is the main motivation for others to play it.

Have you actually played the game or are you an outsider looking in?

I played modern warfare 2 and black ops and got up to 2nd prestige, I read reviews on modern warfare 3 and saw a bunch of gameplay footage same crap for another 60 bucks and all the fans keep paying in. It's turning into shit covered chocolate.
 

Asterion

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People sometimes need something to rage at, it just makes you feel better to hit them hard, especially when they feel it. If you don't expel that anger in some way, you'll bottle it and it'll come out where you don't want it, you might not even realize you're acting out on anger. I heard a story once that mentioned a priest that was very kind and loving, always doing kind things. Then when he went to bed, he dreamed of crushing baby chicks in his bear hands.

CoD is great, if you've never played online games before, you get a sense of exhilaration (well, at least I did once). Once enough casual people have played the game, it will become an old sensation and pass on.
 

Asterion

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People sometimes need something to rage at, it just makes you feel better to hit them hard, especially when they feel it. If you don't expel that anger in some way, you'll bottle it and it'll come out where you don't want it, you might not even realize you're acting out on anger. I heard a story once that mentioned a priest that was very kind and loving, always doing kind things. Then when he went to bed, he dreamed of crushing baby chicks in his bear hands.

CoD is great, if you've never played online games before, you get a sense of exhilaration (well, at least I did once). Once enough casual people have played the game, it will become an old sensation and pass on.
 

Blank

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Just consider it a map expansion pack that most people will buy.

The thing is, once a new CoD comes out, the old ones get left in the dust for hackers or people who are ridiculously good at that particular version.
 

The_Liquid_Laser

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Call of Duty may be amazing, but it is only Activision's second biggest franchise. Their biggest franchise is World of Warcraft. And why do people keep paying $15 a month for World of Warcraft? Because it's a heavily social game that is well crafted. And Call of Duty is the same in that respect. Activision has a better idea of what the masses want compared to most game companies.
 

Lexus

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Modern Warfare 3 hit record sales on the first week of release. The game reached 1 billion in sales in 16 days. The game is just a rehashed version of MW2 so why does it sell so much? this is a serious question.

It's nothing more than a continuation of story in my opinion, it's like you're playing a movie which didn't surprise me. They built up a lot of story in MW2. BF has always been more tactical in my opinion with a story backdrop.

I appreciate how MW3 did not alter or re invite new controls, it was just an extended MW2. If I have to learn a new stupid set of controls because some over paid reprobate figured it would compensate for something else in the game - BF3 does plenty of that for MW3 and itself.
 
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