Call of Duty pre-orders down due to console transition

Call of Duty: Ghosts pre-orders are lower than those of last year's Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 due to the upcoming console transition, claimed Activision.

Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg revealed the lower figures during an investor call yesterday, which he blamed on players not knowing which console they'll be playing on.

However he said it was only natural and that overall sales should still turn out fine.

"As one might expect in this console transition year, pre-orders for Call of Duty: Ghosts are well below the record-setting pace set by Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 last year," he said.

"However, our quantitative consumer research indicates that hesitation amongst past club pre-orders is primarily due to not knowing which platform they will be playing on, which is natural at this time in the console transition."

Company boss Bobby Kotick also said that Activision would face a challenging time later this year due to increased competition.

The likes of Battlefield and Disney Infinity will be looking to take players away from the massively successful Call of Duty and Skylanders franchises.

"As excited as we are about our holiday launches, we face a more crowded competitive landscape than we have in the past," he said.

"We have titles that compete more directly with our offerings and past offerings, including highly anticipated, heavily marketed games launching around our launch dates. To address the effects of this competition, we'll likely further increase our sales and marketing investments this year.

"Furthermore, console transitions can create purchase hesitation and otherwise affect consumer spending."