The long-awaited Call of Duty: Vanguard has finally been announced, and with its reveal event scheduled for August 19th, excitement appears to be building to what may be an all-time high. As such, it may not come as a surprise to hear that an industry insider has predicted that Call of Duty: Vanguard will be 2021's best-selling video game in the United States.
The high-profile and notoriously prolific Call of Duty franchise has a history of very high sales numbers, although the US Army ending its sponsorship of the Call of Duty League could potentially impact its future success. At least one industry insider appears to believe that the launch of Call of Duty: Vanguard could be this year's best seller.
Executive Director & Video Game Industry Advisor for the NPD Group Matt Piscatella recently shared his video game forecast in the form of a Twitter post. In that post, he stated that he expects Call of Duty: Vanguard to be the best-selling video game in the United States this year – an impressive feat, as there are less than four months left in 2021. His Tweet is a reply to Sledgehammer Games' post officially teasing Call of Duty: Vanguard.
The key art that Sledgehammer Games has released appears to confirm a WW2 setting. It certainly confirms the presence of several iconic WW2 weapons, as well as implying that Gunsmith weapon customization will still be available in Call of Duty: Vanguard. It's expected that Call of Duty: Vanguard will pick up where Modern Warfare and Black Ops Cold War left off, and as Modern Warfare 3 sold 30.71 million units by 2020 and Black Ops Cold War sold 5.7 million units in its first month, that's saying something. Furthermore, a Call of Duty game has been the best-selling game every year in the last decade except 2013 and 2018, when Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 won out.
Exactly how popular Call of Duty: Vanguard will end up being remains to be seen, especially as it will be revealed in the midst of the consequences of the gender discrimination allegations at Activision Blizzard. However, the series past achievements and the level of hype that currently appears to be surrounding the new title bode well for the franchise. It appears that Call of Duty fans are taking this prediction with a grain of salt.
Call of Duty: Vanguard is currently in development.
Source: Charlie INTEL