Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg, in a recent earnings call, has revealed that Bungie's upcoming open world online shooter title has the potential to become the next billion-dollar franchise in the already thriving gaming industry.
Hirshberg believes that pre-order records for the game are expected to reach an all-time high, and that Destiny will easily join the likes of Call of Duty and Skylanders as the publisher's next active billion-dollar success story.
Speaking at an earnings call, Hirshberg said Destiny is on the right path to set an all-time preorder record for a new franchise, both at Activision and across the industry. According to the company's internal predictions, the game is already set to become Activision Publishing's third active billion-dollar franchise, joining Call of Duty and Skylanders.
Hirshberg also discussed the pre-order figures for Call of Duty: Ghosts, saying that they're "well below" the record-setting number of pre-orders that Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 boasted, but at the same time, is roughly double that of the original Black Ops title. Hirshberg linked this downturn to consumer uncertainty related to next-generation platforms.
"Our quantitative consumer research indicates that hesitation amongst past [Call of Duty] preorderers is primarily due to not knowing which platform they will be playing on, which is natural at this time in the console transition," Hirshberg said.
He also added that the other "key engagement metrics," like the number of monthly and daily Call of Duty players, as well as the number of downloadable content sales and video views are "significantly" ahead of what it was in the past years.
Hirshberg also confirmed that Activision would support Call of Duty: Ghosts with one of the most forceful marketing plan in the history of the Call of Duty franchise. Call of Duty: Ghosts is currently set for a November release on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, and PC, with versions for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions also in development.
Destiny takes place hundreds of years in the future, where a massive alien ship humans call "the traveller" orbits the Earth, protecting the last human city for reasons unknown. Despite their help, hostile aliens still attack the planet, and a group of "knights," including the protagonist, defend the last of the human race from hostile invaders.
Destiny is currently set for a 2014 release on current and next generation consoles. Activision hopes to turn it into a series, with four games to be released over the next ten years.
