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Gaming continues to blossom and bloom when it comes to sales figures. In fact, early consumer trends and feedback have some analysts predicting that the 2018 holiday season will be one where video games totally dominate. Which means there's big business ahead for Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo.
UBS analyst Eric Sheridan stated in a recent report (via Business Insider) that gamers are expected to spend big bucks on premium editions of top-name games such as Red Dead Redemption 2. As well, Sherican expects for loads of money to rain for a variety of DLC content and in-game microtransactions this fall.
The report is based on a survey of 5,000 gamers, aged 18-44, from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and China. Respondents are known to game on PCs, portable devices and home consoles. As well, everyone who got surveyed had played and/or bought a video game within the last six months.
Interestingly enough, the top AAA title on the charts of consumer interest is not Rockstar Games' highly anticipated Red Dead Redemption 2. Sheridan's report indicates that Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 actually leads the pack, with 40% of the consumer-buying interest going to latest franchise installment. 37% of consumers said they were somewhat likely to buy Assassin's Creed: Odyssey _this fall, while only 36% mentioned that they were somewhat likely to buy _Red Dead Redemption 2 this fall. (Really, people?)
For Call of Duty in particular, those numbers have risen by 17% in year-over-year figures, since last year saw only 23% of gamers reporting they were likely to buy Call of Duty: WW2. So perhaps while gamers were still future-fatigued, they weren't entirely inclined to head back to World War 2 either. Or maybe it was the addition of the Battle Royale mode in Black Ops 4 that convinced the additional gamers to bite the bullet and pick up a copy of Call of Duty this year.
With these numbers in mind, the report indicates that Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 could move around 24 million copies throughout fiscal 2019. That would be up 4 million compared to Call of Duty: WW2's sales in 2017.
It isn't just Call of Duty that's potentially on the receiving end of a bump up in numbers. FIFA 19 has seen a 12% gain in consumer interest, with more people this year willing to purchase the EA Sports outing compared to interest in FIFA 18 last year. The same applies to Madden 19 as well, which saw a 10% increase in consumer interest as compared to Madden 18.
The report also indicates that Activision and EA will move the most units this holiday season. Not only thanks to strong interest in the aforementioned products, but also from excitement about expansion packs like Battle of Azeroth for World of Warcraft.
In addition to all this news, more than 50% of the gamers on the survey noted that they had plans on purchasing expansion packs or DLC for the games they buy this year. This fits in line with another recent report that indicated that both Activision and Electronic Arts have seen significant revenue gains over the last six years after focusing more on games-as-a-service as opposed to solely boxed-product sales.
Even gamers who don't buy DLC this year are still planning on paying premium prices for special edition outings. 39% of gamers who had plans on getting NHL 19 were also looking at purchasing the special edition of the game.
What are you guys planning on snatching up before 2018 comes to a close? Let us know in the comments.