The recent Blackout beta for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 was so much of a success for Treyarch that the analysts at Piper Jaffray have decided to raise the sales estimate for the game.
As reported in late July, their initial estimates were that it would have sold 21.5 million units by the end of 2018. However, Piper Jaffray has now issued an updated report raising the estimate to 23.5 million units.
What do you get when you take the largest annual gaming franchise on Earth and combine it with the most popular new game mode? -- We believe the answer is EPS upside. We are raising our '18 EPS to reflect higher Call of Duty Black Ops 4 units and digital ingame revenue based on confidence in the core game and its accompanying battle royale mode, "Blackout." Early gamer and critical feedback on the Blackout beta has been positive. The Blackout mode YouTube trailer comments, for example, are favorable with a 20-to-1 likes-to-dislikes ratio. Based on the positivity around the core game and Blackout, we are raising our '18 Call of Duty Black Ops 4 unit estimate to 23.5m (from 21.5m) and increasing the estimated digital revenue contribution from the game in both CY18 & '19.
Black Ops 4 is due for release tomorrow on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It will be the first time Call of Duty skips a Steam release, with PC fans required to use Activision Blizzard's Battle.net instead to play the game.
Look forward to our review soon.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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