Black Ops to sell 10.7m in year one

Call of Duty Black Ops will put in a sales performance far closer to Modern Warfare 2 than anyone has previously predicted, according to one analyst.

Gamasutra reports that Cowen and Company’s Doug Creutz believes the FPS could sell as many as 10.7m copies in its first year, a number that would be just 17 per cent down on the year one sales of MW2.

That’s significantly better than the 29 per cent dip previously forecast.

A strong performance by the Treyarch-developed Black Ops would help combat the notion that the departure of key Infinity Ward talent could permanently impair the Call of Duty franchise,” he added.

Treyarch certainly believes in its title’s chances. Community boss Josh Olin told MCV yesterday that:

Every Call of Duty game has ratcheted the bar up for the next one, and we’re just ratcheting up the bar one step further. I think Black Ops is going to exceed expectations. This game is going to be huge.”

And while the mass market is probably completely oblivious to the recent kafuffle at Infinity Ward, Michael Pachter has predicted that the ill-feeling created by the situation could result in lower scores for future Infinity Ward titles.

What’s also possible is that Treyarch – often seen as the whipping boys by some sections of the specialist press – will see opinion of its titles heading in the other direction.

Early impressions of Black Ops are excellent. Couple this with some good review scores and Treyarch’s Call of Duty could yet surprise us all.