Call of Duty buzz up 400% in wake of Black Ops II reveal, PS3 gains mindshare
Activision's marketing push has begun and it appears to be working
Call of Duty: Black Ops II was officially revealed to the world on May 1 during the NBA playoffs, and yesterday Activision further detailed what the game will offer, boasting that it will be the "most ambitious Call of Duty ever." The goal, of course, is to drive awareness and get players psyched 6-7 months ahead of launch. According to Nielsen Media, the strategy is working.
Speaking to GamesIndustry International, the firm revealed that its NM Incite tracking solution saw buzz around the Call of Duty brand more than quadruple in the wake of the Black Ops II reveal. Nielsen, which collects data from major social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, as well as from over 160 million blogs and boards, found that daily buzz around Call of Duty or the new Black Ops game stood at 4,911 messages on April 30, and after the trailer and other details had been digested on May 2, that number jumped to 21,454 messages.
"Historically, buzz has been at its highest around launch time for Call of Duty, generating up to 69,942 messages on a single day. As far as pre-launch buzz goes, today's buzz total of 21,454 is second highest, only to 5/31/2011's 21,728 messages. The buzz on 5/31/2011 came after Activision announced their Call of Duty: Elite online community," NM Incite analyst Mickey Campione told us.
Interestingly, while Xbox 360 was leading in the conversations around Call of Duty, Sony's PS3 really wasn't far behind. Microsoft's Xbox platform has long been considered the "home of FPS games" and it's been a very popular platform for Call of Duty players. Nielsen's data would appear to suggest, however, that Call of Duty's PS3 mindshare is growing. It'll be interesting to see what the sales breakdown among the platforms looks like this holiday season.
