The indisputable facts are that COD sales peaked in 2011 with MW3. It has declined every year since then. And many fans consider Black Ops 2 as one of the best. Despite that, it still saw a decline from the previous year's launch (MW3). So there's evidence that a "better" game isn't going to see an increase in sales.

It may not be "dead" by 2017, but I think Activision will need to rethink their entire strategy going forward around that time. We should also be asking what's the threshold at which Activision needs to rethink 3 full time studios churning out the same game year after year.

Obviously 18 million copies per year is massive and even if it drops to 10 million per year, many IPs would dream of those types of numbers, but there has to be a point at which their strategy changes. That's a massive drop and corporations are all about year over year growth - year over year declines are not good when you're a publicly traded corporation.

And let's not forget 2015 will see Battlefront, possibly The Division, Halo 5, plus a brand new massive Destiny expansion. I know from my friends, who were all once hardcore COD players (that's where I met most of them), they've completely bailed on the franchise and have no interest in ever returning. The majority of them are Destiny players now.

And Nintendo will be dead by next year.


Wait, you're not joking? Oh....
It sold 4.7 million. In only the US....In the first month.... Doesn't matter how much it is down, it still the bestselling game (platforms combined) nearly every year.

I disagree. CoD has peaked that's for sure however it's gonna continue being one of the biggest sellers of the year for quite some time. I don't see it dying in the next 5 years at least.

Only if we would get a good CoD game before the franchise's eventual demise! That would be pretty nice.