December 2021 NPD: Call of Duty: Vanguard Was the Best-Selling PS5, PS4 Game of the Year

It's significant considering Vanguard was only on sale for the last 2 months of the year, but what really demonstrates that this will affect Sony in the pocket is that the 3rd highest selling game of the year on PS was Black Ops: Cold War, released in 2020.

Sony have the studios and IPs to survive such a hit but it will sting. They just have to take a leaf out of Nintendo's book and continue to offer an alternative way to play, and PSVR2 will play a role in that.
If MS want to corner the market in offering a vanilla gaming sub model Sony, like Nintendo, are able to reposition themselves as a traditional console manufacturer and provide the type of games and experiences we all grew up with during the pre-internet halcyon days

Remember when sites (Pushsquare too, yes) published Articles about Sony Games coming to PC being absolutely fine since the Casuals will still buy the PS5 for CoD and Co? Well about that...

Time for Sony to get in the trenches and fight back. It’s going to be one exciting year ahead.

No GTA V? It's been a lean year for Rockstar, maybe Sony should snap them up while they're short on cash

All I know is that later this year it's gonna get real cringy when the new COD is set to release and Sony has to promote all the perks you get from playing it on Playstation 😬

As a Playstation centric site, you sure seem to lap up opportunities either to call out Sony's failures or chime the bells of doom for Playstation fans. Lighten up.

@Shakybeeves you certainly have a point. It's like watching someone pick a scab.

I enjoy the cod campaigns but they're pretty short so I buy them in sales but for me game pass will be perfect for this

@Shakybeeves Well all those Doom Articles bring tons of clicks = Ad Money lol. Thats why we absolutly needed 5 separate Articles about every single Detail

It's time for Knack 3.

They'll still get their cut from all the online MTX transactions. CoD MP will go F2P for ALL and keep their ONLINE CoD presence on all platforms. However, any NEW games those studio's make will only be on Game Pass - whichever platforms support it (Currently PC, Mobile/Tablet, Xbox consoles) but yes they will lose a LOT of revenue from any potential 'New' CoD SP story as MP will be 'free to play'.

If you want to play any of Sony's 1st Party and 'third party' exclusives on Day 1, you have to buy a PS5 - that is not Consumer Friendly and Limiting. If you want to play Xbox 1st Party Games, you can play 'ANYWHERE' Game Pass exists. Its about not stopping players only having 1 place to play that's out of reach (financially or otherwise) for MANY but giving them 'options' - some of which they may already have access to with Game Pass

@BAMozzy ill be amazed if TV's with Game Pass integration / an Xbox chromecast like device bundled with a controller are not on the market by the end of the year

@BAMozzy "anywhere gamepass exists" is equally not consumer friendly and limiting. Both are not everywhere.

Yeah money and players xbox will lose if it becomes exclusive, also vanguard sales were 36% lower compared to the previous call of duty game in the UK.
More people are interested in warzone than the actual single releases with its mediocre single player campaigns

One problem Sony has failed to address is developing casual friendly franchises that have mass appeal. Nintendo has certain key franchises that always dominate the charts: Mario, Pokemon, Animal Crossing and Mario Kart. Sony has no equivalents here which is a terrible oversight on their part. These are the kinds of games that are important to sell consoles to kids and get them hooked and develop sentimentality for the platform. This is what Nintendo excels at and has allowed them to thrive over the years even during turbulent times. Sony relies too heavily on 3rd parties, and as we just saw today they can be sold to the highest bidder and in one swoop disappear from your platform entirely. Sony only has Spider-Man that fits this criteria and even that isn't a wholly owned property and can just as easily be taken away from them.

People buy it because it has COD in the title, just like Madden….little snots telling mom i need COD or Madden every year…sales are high because of this…certainly not because of quality…all Sony has to do is make a quality FPS…problem solved….if ur into that kinda game anyway……

@Rob_230 That or a dongle with blutooth to connect any Blutooth enabled controller to be used - inc DS4/5's that can be plugged into any HDMI enabled Display.

CoD will obviously go Free to Play to keep those Online players happy and engaged on whatever platform - inc the PS5. Maybe a Premium service sub on top (free on Game Pass) allows you into 'competitive' ranked matches but some battlepass system and CoD point purchases for Cosmetics that can only be bought with real money will keep CoD going.

However, those studio's will no longer be forced into pushing out CoD on a yearly basis so can work on what they want instead - Any CoD SP will be exclusive to game pass.

@Milktastrophe But that's where MS ambition lies -every device being a 'Game Pass' device and everywhere they can reach (internet and wifi restrictions are not their problem to fix). If Sony refuse to allow Game Pass on their Platform, that is on Sony but MS have made Game Pass and therefore Games far more accessible for EVERYONE. I don't 'need' to spend $500 on a Series X just to play Starfield, but I 'need' to spend $500 to play R&C:Rift Apart! I don't even need a much more affordable Series S as devices I already may own like PC, Mobile/Tablet and who knows what other places Game Pass exists would still give me access. I bet most here have a platform they could play Xbox games on already!

The difference is that Sony is stopping EVERYONE from playing the games they want - not just First Party, but 3rd Party too from playing certain games unless they buy a Sony Playstation. MS may well be stopping some games coming to PS, Overall, they are opening up the Access to a LOT more people on any platform Game Pass exists - which may well include Playstation in the future.

Am I missing something in this article - it shows that COD was the highest selling PS game in December (wasn't much else out to buy the kiddies was there), but goes on to say it was the highest selling PS game all year but is not backed up by a chart, only one showing all games no matter the system?

@MatthewJP Here: https://twitter.com/MatPiscatella/status/1483439989832642565

Maybe a new Killzone, it's time, need a CoD killer and CoD is at an all time low point now

this article failed to realize that 20% of ps4 owners buy cod
and majority of those 20% buy cod because its on ps platform

@Shakybeeves I’m sorry to see a few people seem to think this is a good point. Chronicling what is happening is not criticism, and even if it were, it’s criticism coming from a place of care. One of the best parts of pushsquare is that it’s more than a mouthpiece — it challenges Sony and others to do better not just for the company but for its fans. Hagiography helps no one.

Wow. Microsoft theoretically in the top 2 (cod isn't theirs yet of course), and 3 of the top 20, and 2 of those 3 are on Game Pass. So much for "nobody buys games because of game pass."

Here's hoping whatever Project Spartacus was supposed to be yesterday, it's something completely different today... I'd love to see Sony compete here head on.

@Juanalf Maybe they can advertise Death Loop again along with it. 😆

@NinjaSixx that's a fact

Where's my tri-yearly GTA: V!?

@Rob_230 I mean they've already long ago revealed plans to do so, maybe not just yet this year but could very well be indeed.

@Subsided a new Killzone would be legit. Now seems like a good time to reboot the Resistance series.

Sony may already be working on a COD clone. They may have known this is coming for a while. Is the name, Acts of Valor, taken? Sony’s teams surely have the skill to rip off COD while doing things like single player better.

@BAMozzy You're right. MS buying up third party games for the sole purpose of taking them away from other gamers is stopping EVERYONE from playing the games they want.

Meanwhile Sony has made PS Now and is ADDING platforms that receive native versions of their first party games and are therefore making Games far more accessible for EVERYONE. Really the skies the limit on where Sony could take PS Now or what platforms they ADD. I bet most here have a platform they could play PS games on already!

Is every article related to call of duty going to prompt stark reminders of the potential loss of revenue to sony via the recent purchase of activision/blizzard? Maybe as a playstation site the editors and staff should focus on maybe trying to raise moral instead of trolling the depths of playstation owners fears? Jesus guys come on with your recent attempts at trying or at least trying to appear you want to clean up the comments sections you sure do like pouring petrol on the fire..try reporting on positives instead of going for the cheap clicks..

@OmegaStriver you know what they have a franchise that will always be better than cod..socom was and always will be better than cod..heck it even rivaled ghost recon back when ghost recon was actually good..MAG too has the potential if only sony would put faith in its own ip's..

@Northern_munkey Socom is 3rd person right? Many would nope out due to that. I love 3rd person games though, but we are talking about a COD competitor/clone.

@OmegaStriver yeah it was 3rd person but it could work probably even better as a 1st person shooter..maybe how the rainbow six vegas games switched to 3rd person when peeking around corners..

@BAMozzy you realise that the experience you get may vary a lot..offcourse i paid 500 for a ps5 to enjoy the best controller and best quality of the games i choose..i don't want to mess with streaming, tv dongles and more ipad-like consoles with 2 hour battery...

@get2sammyb Your xbox equivalent news site has posted less articles on this aquisition than you have....the content of this article is irrelevant, it is the way it has been utilised to again push a narrative of playstation doom. Anyway I'm not usually combatative online, all the best 😎👍

@Milktastrophe Sony buys a Studio, that means you have to buy a SONY Playstation to play their games on Day 1.

MS buys a Studio, that means you can literally play on ANY device except Playstation - PC's Mobiles, Tablets, Car etc.

That's not buying studio's 'just' to make people buy their hardware as you can play on a PC you built yourself, Android/iOS phones, etc etc.

Just because you are a Sony Fanboy who only sees in 'consoles' as in its now on Xbox console not Playstation, the fact is, that its on every device except Sony because Sony are the outlier, the one who won't play nicely with the others.

Now MS comes along with Game Pass basically everywhere, and buys studio's to allow ANYONE to access their games - except those who play on Sony Playstation.

Some of 'biggest' games will be on Xbox, PC, Mobile/Tablets etc but NOT on Sony Playstation. Its not Playstation vs Xbox, its Playstation vs the rest of the world because the rest of the world has a device too access 'Game Pass'

Is there anyway to find total sales of games worldwide? US sales doesn’t present the entire picture. I can’t find anything on Google.

@get2sammyb

I do not care about COD! However this is a big loss in revenue for Sony. Microsoft has taken away 3 games I would have pre-ordered. They are Diablo, Wolfenstine, and Hellblade. I could play them on my PC paying just $10 for one month when they come out on game pass. I picked up a Nintendo Switch OLED after Christmas. I now have something to fill in for the losses.

@Salt_AU Microsoft doesn't care about that, their goal is to starve Playstation and dominate the market. They can't do that by just putting all their games on PS, they already showed revenue is not a top priority by stopping new Bethesda games from going to Sony consoles.

2. SM Miles Morales. 🔥🔥
Amazing!!!
N.2 Even a year after launch.

@OmegaStriver
Hi
I think US and UK and maybe France and Japan are the most accurate.
For the rest of the world VGChartz provides estimates hardware and software. They are what they are but it’s better than nothing. I reckon it gives a close enough picture.