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When compared to last year's series entry, Call of Duty: Vanguard is selling roughly 40% worse in the United Kingdom. The eighteenth game in the seminal action FPS series launched on November 5 and, compared to earlier entries, Vanguard has landed with very little fanfare from the gaming community.
The first title in the long-running Call of Duty franchise was released back in 2003 and the series has continued ever since, with frequent new releases regularly sitting at the top of the most popular games each year. The games are so ubiquitous that many gamers start speculating about the game before a new one even has a chance to breathe. The action-packed franchise offers players a host of different experiences with each ing year, starting with a World War II backdrop (a setting that is revisited in Vanguard) before shifting into a version of the present day with Modern Warfare - and then jumping into the future with releases like Infinite Warfare. While the annual release model might lead some to believe that the series is potentially leading to exhaustion, the games remain popular with both casual and hardcore gaming audiences.
That said, it looks like Vanguard is underperforming in certain markets. Gaming news outlet Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War - which was a major financial success for Activision. Specifically, physical sales are down 26%, with digital sales falling a whopping 44%.
These numbers might not come as a huge surprise, as many gamers have taken note of the low interest in Vanguard when compared to other Call of Duty games; critical reception for Vanguard has been lukewarm and mostly unenthusiastic, and it would not be controversial to suggest that the franchise as a whole is suffering from a bit of fatigue. The return to a WWII setting also might have impacted sales, as this is a time period that the series has featured somewhat frequently already.
While all these factors could play a role in the lower sales numbers, it's important to note the existence of other mitigating circumstances: the free-to-play battle royale Call of Duty: continues to see from developers, and some Call of Duty players might not see the point in venturing beyond that series iteration for now. Vanguard is also going up against some stiff FPS competition, namely Battlefield 2042 and Halo: Infinite. That said, future patches could spur interest in Vanguard eventually; the game is still young.
Call of Duty: Vanguard is currently available on PC, Xbox One, Xbox X/S, PS4, and PS5.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz