New LinkedIn profile claims that Call of Duty: Vanguard, what is considered to be one of the worst in the series, sold 30 million copies.
The game received mixed reviews from critics, criticizing its zombies mode, writing and lack of innovation, but singleplayer campaign and multiplayer were mostly praised for its entertainment value. It failed to meet the sales expectations of Activision as of May 2022.
“Our 2021 premium release didn’t meet our expectations, we believe primarily due to our own execution,” Activision revealed. “The game’s World War 2 setting didn’t resonate with some of our community and we didn’t deliver as much innovation in the premium game as we would have liked.”
A Turnaround?
As spotted today, Brian Hong who acted as social media strategist at Activision for Call of Duty: Vanguard claims on his LinkedIn profile that the game has sold 30 million copies. If this claim is indeed true, what is widely considered to be one of the worst Call of Duty games in the community would actually appear to be a success for Activision.
“Acted as Social Media Strategist for Activision helping to co-develop strategy designed to acquire new players for FPS game Call of Duty Vanguard, selling 30 million copies,” said Hong.
Following WWII’s release, Sledgehammer Games underwent a reorganization after co-founders and directors Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey left. Studio Head Aaron Halon, in a VentureBeat interview, expressed pride in the studio’s legacy and the strategic decisions leading to “Call of Duty: Vanguard.” Initially, Sledgehammer was to continue the three-year developer rotation with Infinity Ward and Treyarch, introduced in 2012, by leading a new Call of Duty title with Raven Software in 2020. However, due to conflicts, Treyarch took over, resulting in the creation of Black Ops Cold War. Sledgehammer was then left to develop a game in less than 2 years what resulted to be Vanguard.
Vanguard was first exclusive to Battle.net on PC, but in March 2023 Activision has ported several Call of Duty titles to Steam which have boosted the sales, but to what extent it is unknown.
Call of Duty: Vanguard released in November 2021 for PC, PlayStation 4/5 and Xbox One/Series X|S.
