Call of Duty Retail Sales Continue to Decline, Analyst Says

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare was the best selling game for November according to the NPD, but the military first-person shooter continues to decline in sales compared to recent years.

Street Insider (via Gamesindustry.biz) reports that Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Olson said Activision sales fell 22 percent compared to same month last year, and that Call of Duty sales specifically we're down 27 percent.

"NPD data does not include digital copies or international sales, which, if included, would lessen the decline, but we believe this data suggests potential for Q4 revenue upside is now very low," Olson said.

However, Olson added the Blizzard's strong performance with World of Warcraft and Hearthstone should allow Activision to meet its expectations for the quarter.

In November, Activision said that Initial UK sales figures for Advanced Warfare represents growth for the Call of Duty franchise, but the claim is somewhat complicated given that Advanced Warfare and Call of Duty: Ghosts shipped under different conditions.

Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg also previously insisted that the purchase intent for Advanced Warfare was "significantly above" Ghosts. However, he added that preorder sales across the industry were in decline, as consumers transition to next-gen consoles.

Other analysts have indicated that Ghosts didn't sell as much as Call of Duty: Black Ops, and that Black Ops didn't sell as much as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.