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Battlefield and Call of Duty can successfully coexist, says analyst

Sterne Agee analyst says success potential for Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty: Ghosts not mutually exclusive.

317 Comments

Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty: Ghosts launch just seven days apart this fall, but both games can successfully coexist, according to Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia.

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In a note to investors today, he said the success potential for both games is not mutually exclusive, especially so because player purchase habits are different for each franchise.

"The Battlefield series resonates particularly well with the PC gamers, while Call of Duty tends to do well on consoles," Bhatia said. "We expect more than a third of Battlefield 4 unit sales to be on the PC platform and the remaining units on consoles."

Total PC sales for Call of Duty: Ghosts will likely be less than 10 percent of overall units, Bhatia said. "Our point is both franchises can coexist successfully," he said.

Activision Publishing announced during an earnings call yesterday that preorder figures for Call of Duty: Ghosts are "well below" those of Call of Duty: Black Ops II. This downturn was attributed to consumer uncertainty regarding next-generation platforms and described as "normal" for this period in a console transition.

Battlefield 4 launches October 29, while Call of Duty: Ghosts is out November 5. Next-generation versions of both games are also in the works, though release dates have not been announced.

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Avatar image for Uangry
Uangry

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No, no, no! They can NOT coexist. Let the fanboys wipe eachother out! I demand bloodshed!!!

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theKSMM

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@Uangry Exactly. There's only so much entertainment I can derive from the endless PS4 vs. XB1 battles.

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ROEG-GAMER

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Battlefield 4 is gonna make COD look like Candy Crush. COD is for amateurs. Battlefield provides tactics and team play to the game, Call of Duty is for mindless gamers who thinks running into bullets to get kills is fun if you run around in Battlefield head on into a hell storm full bullets you will be seeing the respawn screen alot.

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alexfrica

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@ROEG-GAMER are you stupid if anything u die faster on bf than cod i try playing bf and i almost broke my controller in half because all the bs u shoot a guy 4 bullets he put 2 into you and your dead fuk bf and plz there are 2 different game

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DeusGladiorum

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@ROEG-GAMER They're two different genres of games. You can't compare them just because they happen to use fps mechanics. I don't buy CoD anymore because the price is too expensive to justify the same old thing. It's not a bad series at all, and it's certainly very satisfying, but $60 for each installment is not worth it considering each new installment is a collection of map packs and a forgettable story. But back to the main point, CoD is an arcade shooter: it's meant to make you as the individual feel like a powerhouse. BF is a military simulator. It's meant to make whole battles between armies seem grand and exciting, and the satisfaction comes more from helping the team than it necessarily does getting kills.

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ModestDude

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@DeusGladiorum @ROEG-GAMER They aren't really that different. You can compare the two more than let's say....

Watch Dogs Vs. Grand Theft Auto V.


BF isn't a military simulator either. Arma is a military simulator.

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DeusGladiorum

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Edited By DeusGladiorum

@ModestDude @DeusGladiorum @ROEG-GAMER They're different enough. You play them quite differently and trying to play either in the style meant for the other results in constant death and a bad time had by all. You can of course compare it more than you could with GTA and Watch Dogs, but that doesn't mean they're the same. The main differences can be seen in the most popular game modes. For CoD it's either TD or FFA, and we all know TD isn't about teamwork. Both of those game modes are intrisically about K/D ratio for the individual player. In BF, the most popular game modes are Rush and Conquest. Both of these game modes are about the advancement of the team and interaction with your squad.

You're right, BF isn't exactly a military simulator, but it is attempting to simulate a military experience more realistically than CoD is, and I'd still say the point holds true that the games are too different to truly compare them. They each offer their own experiences and their own mechanics, I just prefer BF because it's much more of a team based game.

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spectreSE7EN

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Edited By spectreSE7EN

Agree with you. But lets not credit EA. Dice makes bf not ea. cod was dead to me after mw2.

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rawkstar007

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"There can be only one."

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vicsrealms

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@rawkstar007 "Don't lose your head."

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cboye18

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I hope they both die out, simultaneously...

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spectreSE7EN

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A guy who hates both cod and bf. so it makes total sense that you are here.

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DrKill09

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Except Battlefield is good.

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Uangry

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@DrKill09 You are clearly unbiased! Tell us more!

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AlexFili

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Why do all the games have to be release in November? It's a bit of a pain

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waffless1

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@AlexFili It's something they've been doing forever now, prob because of thanksgiving, christmas, and new years.

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ender707

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"No shit", says gamer.

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lamprey263

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I can't jump back and forward between games, I play BF for the online MP, but when I try playing COD the game engine feels like its all cracked on on some modded turbo mode. I used to still get the COD games anyways because of the fun SP campaign, but they've completely abandoned any decent SP game since MP has become their main focus, after being so disappointed in Black Ops and MW3, I said to myself that was it, no more love for the COD series, and I'd been a fan since the beginning, so no I will not be getting COD games anymore. There is no room for coexistence when BF is around. And lets be honest, they're being humble because their franchise is shrinking.

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SpookyHoobster

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Games don't compete with each other so why would they NOT coexist?

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LS-Chaos

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Either I'm from the future or this is old news, remember reading this guy said this like a month or two ago.

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HartPuncher

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You mean just like Doom and Unreal? Like Mario and Sonic? Like Resident Evil and Silent Hill? Like NFL 2k and Madden? Oh, wait...

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UnstoppableKARL

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@HartPuncher Exactly, like either was going to affect the other. -__-

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Riddick123

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Wish BF would go back to the BF2 and 2142 archtecture. Once you ranked up you got a new weapon with all the add ons. None of this kill 1000 people with this gun to get this scope. Didn't have 3 ranks in between to get the next rank. None of this buying a premium pack to give you the advantage. Just my take, you may disagree. BF copied the CoD build in my opinion.

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LS-Chaos

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Being Premium doesn't give you an advantage though, why would you think that? Lol Maybe having some of the DLC weapons can give you a slight advantage but the best weapons in the game are on the disc.

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BrainFart01

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@LS-Chaos I think he meant that you can buy vehicle and weapon shortcuts which i guess technically can give you an advantage....more so when the game was brand new as you would have access to vehicle perks and a broader variety of guns sooner than people who just put it in the hours to level up.

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quinten488

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Edited By quinten488

@Deadman_est1982 im good a both, you must be garbage at them

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TheKeef

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Edited By TheKeef

Again, these are two differing types of game. One is a hallway shooter, the other, is an open-world styled shooter. Yes basically they both get their oomph from the desire for the broader "FPS" genre.

This is no prediction, it's akin to saying pick-ups and cars will do okay in competition with each other.

Or predicting hotdogs will still be able to compete against hamburgers. Yeah, no shit.

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Moegitto

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Correction: Battlefield and Call of Duty as they are NOW should NOT exist. Both series may sell but they left their heyday a couple of years ago. Both series developers refuse to listen to their fans and they abandoned everything that made them great.

Also Lag Compensation and Rent a Server rant....

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DarkSaber2k

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Edited By DarkSaber2k

Where the **** does Gamespot keep finding these "industry expert" tards?

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Moegitto

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@DarkSaber2k Cleaning their bathrooms talking to themselves, the weird, nonsensical mutterings of a janitor can be surprisingly intelligent sometimes...

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hastati4

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Battlefield finally getting 32 on 32 for consoles will really help it with that market. BF3 just wasn't the same experience if it wasn't on PC.

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Messenger360p

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COD will feel the wrath of BF4 this fall

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CrushedGear

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@Messenger360p Metro: Last Light remains the best shootet of 2013 after Bioshock

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Dasim64

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@Messenger360p Not really. BF4 is a totally different style of play and most CoD players are not really looking for that. BF has always been about big open maps with lots of stuff going on where CoD is more about fast paced tighter maps with more focus on in your face combat. I don't understand why it's even a question that both games could do well. They aren't anything alike other than the fact both have a military focus and you can shoot people with guns.

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leandrro

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they can coexist for a while

marketshare:

2010

cod 95% bf 5%

2011 cod 70% bf 30%

2013 cod 45% bf 55%

2015 cod 5% bf 95%


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gww101

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@leandrro Battlefield is a better product and game in my opinion, but to say the it sells more than CoD is ignorant.

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leandrro

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@gww101 @leandrro pre orders are on the same level, but i hope bf wins this time on the release week

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KommonSinse

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@leandrro Wait until they reveal the release dates for the new consoles, a lot of people are waiting for that info to decide on what version to get.

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savagejoe444

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Mind telling us something we don't know already.

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santinegrete

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That they do, it's just the pretentious fanboys that think their shit doesn't smell the ones that can't coexist.

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bdixon76

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I need to get paid for blatantly obvious assertions too.

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CnConrad

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Edited By CnConrad

I am interested to see if both titles will flounder at launch.

I mean who in their right mind would buy the gimped version of these games for the same price as a vastly superior version when new consoles are released less than a month after these games.

I think all cod/bf fanboys will even agree the 360/ps3 versions will be copy-paste clones of BLOPS 2/bf3.

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LS-Chaos

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Some people can't help it, not everyone can get the next gen consoles this fall. Some people don't want too like me, I've been an early adopter for enough consoles to know its always best to wait.

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CnConrad

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I certainly can't blame you for waiting. But why not wait and pass on buying a gimped game?

I don't know if you are a bf or cod fan but you do realize the 360 versions won't have any of the advertised features right?

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kargion

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They have been for years, why would this change?

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LonelyHippie27

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Once BF4 comes out I'm locking COD away, and never touching it again.

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