Less than 2 days after its launch, Call Of Duty: Black Ops attained a MetaCritic score of 90 and has enjoyed all positive reviews that called it "by far the best title in the series," but all of that isn't enough to convince Activision that it will outsell its Modern Warfare 2 predecessor.
In fact, Activision has forecasted in its annual financial reports that Black Ops will sell around 20% less than Modern Warfare 2.
"This includes an assumption that the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops comps negatively against last year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, despite the fact that on several pre-release metrics cited by management Black Ops is tracking ahead of Modern Warfare 2," Cowan & Company's Doug Creutz explained after analyzing the Activision's financial reports. "We think management's guidance implies Black Ops units down roughly 20 per cent versus Modern Warfare 2."
Independently, Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan has expected that Black Ops would sell 13 million units this year (3 million units less than Modern Warfare 2), thanks to a stronger competition and slower market for retail products.
