Michael Pachtner, the infamous video game and electronic research analyst with Wedbush Securities, believes that Battlefront sales won’t stand a chance against Black Ops III. While Pachter doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to his predictions, he may be right on this one.
No doubt the Star Wars fan base is massive, but it’s hard to ignore that Call of Duty is the 600 pound gorilla during the busy holiday season. Pachter estimates that Black Ops III will outsell its Star Wars competitor by as much as 50%.
The analyst supports his claim by emphasizing the importance of Call of Duty as an established franchise and the effect of word of mouth on sales. The series launches in the significant month of November and usually sells almost the same in December.
Many gamers are happy playing Call of Duty up until the latest entry where then its rinse and repeat. Some of these gamer won’t bother with other titles, as long as they’re playing the same game as their friends.
Michael said, “People aren’t playing Star Wars. They might be playing the beta, but there’s no real compelling reason to rush out and buy it the first instant. All your Call of Duty friends aren’t buying Star Wars and switching over.”
We will see if Pachter’s prediction was correct on December 10, when November’s NDP report is released.
