U.S. physical game sales of "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare" declined nearly 50 percent in the month of November compared with last year's "Call of Duty: Black Ops III."
November 'Call of Duty' physical game sales fell nearly 50 percent. Activision Blizzard shares are down about 20 percent from mid-October highs and worries over poor launch sales from this year's "Call of Duty" game may be the reason why.
"Infinite Warfare units came in 17 percent shy of our expectations, down close to 50 percent," as stated by Cowen analyst Doug Creutz wrote in a note to clients Friday citing NPD data.
Another unknown source with access to the CNBC claims that November's NPD "Call of Duty" unit sales were down 51 percent year over year. The person requested anonymity as they are not allowed to reveal the firm's research.
The November "Call of Duty" U.S. sales data are similar in magnitude to the 48 percent year-over-year drop during the first week of "Call of Duty" sales in the United Kingdom, according to Gfk Chart-Track sell-through data revealed in early November. Overall unit sales may be better than the NPD and Gfk Chart-Track sell-through numbers as the firms only track physical game sales in retail stores not digital game sales.
Last Nov. 16 it was predicted that a 10 percent decline for Call of Duty game sales in Activision Blizzard's December quarter," as stated by Morgan Stanley, a Wall Street analyst.
Electronic Arts justified that on its Nov. 1 earnings conference call, digital game sales now represent 30 percent of the industry's sales. However, the large size of the "Call of Duty" physical game sales drop makes it likely the overall decline will be worse than expected.
Activision Blizzard and NPD did not return calls requesting comment on the NPD sales data.
