It’s hardly surprising then that the “Call of Duty” and “Assassin’s Creed” franchises are releasing new versions this week. “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla”, on Vikings and Norse mythology, debuts on November 10, the same day as Xbox Series X. Three days later, “Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War,” set in the 1980s, was released.
“Valhalla” had twice as many active players on launch day as Ubisoft’s 2018 “Assassin’s Creed” game “Odyssey,” the company said in a press release, without providing details. The game features a new setting in England’s Dark Ages, which Ubisoft says rekindles “the age-old battle between the Assassins and Templars that fans know well.” It is the 13th main game in the franchise.
Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush, said that relatively weak competition around the holiday season will help “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla,” as will the game’s mystical setting, which fans of the franchise might like. He predicts that, like the already successful “Assassin’s Creed” titles, the game could sell anywhere from 10 to 12 million copies, marking a solid hit for Ubisoft.
“[It would be] as well as the best in their line, ”said Pachter, estimating that even the less successful titles tend to sell 7 million copies.
Call of Duty’s “Black Ops Cold War” received a cooler reception among fans, who didn’t get as much buzz about the game online this week as it was to “Valhalla.” “Cold War” sends players to Ronald Reagan’s America, where they are part of an elite squad fighting the Vietnamese secret police, the KGB and East Germany. “Cold War” and “Valhalla” are also playable on older consoles.
Reagan himself leads the American team as they take on secret missions – and as one character in the game puts it, “every mission we do is illegal.”
“Call of Duty” is Activision (Mountain biking) longtime cash cow, and the franchise recently celebrated the first anniversary of its mobile game and the continued popularity of its free-to-play Battle Royale game, “Warzone”. It remains to be seen whether the “cold war” can achieve a similar level of success.
Alex Giaimo, a Jefferies analyst, predicts that “Call of Duty” could be the hit this holiday season, and estimates that the game’s sales will exceed 20 million units per year.
As for “Spider-Man: Miles Morales” and “Valhalla,” he added, “both titles should be extraordinarily good. [but] nor the integrated audience of “Call of Duty”. “We would be shocked if they reached that type of level.”
