Call of Duty: Ghosts (Might Have) Sold Well

It’s no surprise to anybody with a brain, but Call of Duty: Ghosts appears to have done very well. They’ve shipped a billion dollars worth of units (some 17 million), some of which will presumably have been snapped up by consumers. That’s the problem – we just don’t know.

Seemingly thanks to the staggered launch, although easy to read it as a first-time failure on Call of Duty’s part, Activision have reported their shipped figures instead of their sold. It’s easy to presume that’s because the publisher has sold less than in previous years, but that’s not necessarily the case. The fact is, we don’t have enough evidence to even begin to guess either way. All we know is that the Ghosts train hasn’t quite stopped rolling (there are still several major markets on two new consoles, launched across multiple dates) and that we’ll most likely get a more concrete number when it’s launched across every platform.

So we’ll probably get more information at the beginning of December.

This does mean that it’s unlikely Activision have outsold Grand Theft Auto – again, no surprise there – but how it relates to previous entries in the Call of Duty franchise is up for debate. Either way, I don’t think it’s time to start planning the funeral arrangements just yet: it’s still a billion dollar seller, even if it takes a few weeks to get there.