As popular as the latest consoles are early in their respective lifespan, they can't compare to the current PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in terms of ownership, and that obviously translates to the amount of players. But with Christmas having come and gone, player counts have jumped, especially with regard to one of the most widely played games to grace platforms yet, Call of Duty: Ghosts. Not long after the release of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, Activision claimed its shooter as the most played multiplayer game in the world, and the player count just keeps getting higher.
iGameResponsibly noted a particular hefty increase of the number of players on the PS4 specifically:
"After checking around for solid numbers of concurrent players for Call of Duty: Ghosts on the PS4 platform, we found little to no confirmed information. On the other hand, after scouring gaming forums, social media, and social gaming platforms like Raptr the highest concurrent player count for the PS4 version we found was around 50K. Which sounds quite low, especially after a seemingly insane holiday rush to secure the coveted next-gen console. However, that number seems to have grown by more than 50% today. When signing into Call of Duty: Ghosts on PS4 this afternoon, the number seems to have hiked up to over 77K. Which is more indicative of the fact that Ghosts is the highest selling game on the PS4."
Whether you like CoD, its rival Battlefield, or neither, or maybe even both, you can't deny the numbers that these games bring in, both in terms of players, and cash. If accurate, this new information is fairly indicative of trends that began to emerge long before the games were even out. Back in August, numbers showed Call of Duty: Ghosts taking either the first or second spot with regards to pre-orders for the PS4 and Xbox One. By the fall, social media had Ghosts completely edging out Battlefield 4 on all platforms.
That may be the past, but looking to the future? Expect it to be similar. Considering all the problems Battlefield 4 has been facing, expect BF veterans to make the switch and the player count for Ghosts to grow, unless EA and developer DICE can manage to pull out a miracle and fix the seemingly endless amount of errors players keep running into.
Call of Duty: Ghosts takes place in a near future following an attack from space that leaves Los Angeles virtually wiped out, and the United States' infrastructure devastated. Years later, the country is invaded by a new superpower, a conglomerate of South American nations calling itself the "Federation." What's left of America's special forces have come together to form the titular "Ghosts," and it's up to them to wage guerrilla warfare against the Federation in order to protect what remains of the United States, and drive the Federation out.
Beyond the campaign, the game's multiplayer mode, which promises a slew of different customization options for weapons, character camos, and more. Over 30 new weapons are included alongside old favorites like the UMP45 and the M4A1.
Despite not the best reviews ever for a Call of Duty game, Ghosts was a hit right out of the gate, and it looks like it'll be continuing on that path for the forseeable future.
