If there’s one thing you can depend on in this industry, it’s Call of Duty. Regardless of what people say online, it seems every new CoD immediately leaps to the top of the charts and stays there, invariably becoming the #1 game of the year. Well, it seems the recently-released Call of Duty: Vanguard may break that trend.
Early numbers are in from the UK, and it seems Call of Duty: Vanguard’s launch sales are down 40 percent year-on-year. According to the folks at Video Games Chronicle, Vanguard is the CoD franchise’s lower-performing launch in 14 years. That basically takes us back to the pre-modern era of Call of Duty, before the original Modern Warfare turned CoD from a big franchise to the biggest franchise. Now, CoD: Vanguard still debuted at #1 on the UK charts, and we don’t have sales figures from other territories yet, but it’s an early sign of weakness from Activision’s latest.
Another sign? Only two weeks after launch, Activision is already offering a free multiplayer weekend for Vanguard – something usually reserved for later in a CoD game’s lifespan. The free weekend will coincide with the launch of Vanguard’s new version of the fan-favorite Shipment map.
California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) has filed suit against Activision Blizzard, alleging widespread gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment at the Call of Duty publisher. You can get more detail on that unfolding story here. Acti-Blizz CEO Bobby Kotick has himself been accused of covering for harassers and mistreating female employees in a new report published today.
Call of Duty: Vanguard is available now on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PS5.
