Could Call of Duty go the same way as Guitar Hero?

Call of Duty Black Ops thumb - man against fire

Last week Activision canned their long running Guitar Hero series on consoles. Releasing a new version of the game every year had worn customers out, and it was decided that nobody would want yet another entry in the series. With Activision committed to releasing a new Call of Duty game every year, could the same thing happen to the shooter series?

That was the question Industry Gamers asked a series of industry analysts, who concluded that Call of Duty is unlikely to be milked to death in the same way that Guitar Hero was, though the risk is there. DFC Intelligence analyst David Cole says "there is a very real danger of milking a franchise and causing quality to decline, which can result in turning consumers off. With COD I think the danger is trying to maintain the quality of the franchise and making sure they don't release product just to release product."

Another analyst cited Call of Duty's multiplayer community as the source of its staying power, saying that Call of Duty "has a vibrant online community that keeps growing. When a new version comes out, the 'network effect' kicks in, and many people buy it because their friends have done so. The risk to the franchise is competition, not people tiring of the gameplay... CoD won't fade unless Activision opens the door to competition by making a bad game."

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Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.