Activision predicts year-on-year decline for Call of Duty

The next Call of Duty – likely to be Modern Warfare 4 – will likely sell less than this year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

That’s according to Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg. Remember, too, that while says of Black Ops II have picked up in regions such as the UK, the game is currently tracking behind its predecessor Modern Warfare 3.

"The Call of Duty franchise continues to set the bar for innovation and we expect the new Call of Duty game in development for 2013 to raise that bar even higher," Hirshberg told investors, as reported by GameStop.

"There is increased volatility this year due to the ongoing console transition, which makes predicting the future more challenging than during normal years in the cycle. For Call of Duty, consistent with our past practices, we are planning for the mainline release in Q4 to be down versus 2012.”

Of course, what platforms the next Call of Duty will launch on remains to be seen. A release for the PS3 and Xbox 360 is very likely, but the industry bongos reckon that it’s also in development for PS4 and Xbox 720, too.