Black Ops has outsold MW2 in total and just became the best selling game in U.S. history, so it's only getting bigger but while MW3 will be a huge success, it's not going to outsell Black Ops. Why? Because Modern Warfare 2 became a piece of shit and it turned many people away from Call of Duty games or Infinity Ward developed Call of Duty games(considering the success of Black Ops, probably 95% the latter). So when Treyarch comes out with their next COD developed title, it can take a serious hit from a potentially negative reaction on MW3 and also potentially a small blow from the noobs who suck at Black Ops, resulting in them being turned away from the franchise.
Another thing is, a spin off Call of Duty is being developed right now by a new studio called Sledgehammer Games, I don't expect this to be an AAA Call of Duty title, nor have the "full" Call of Duty experience(Perhaps no co-op or something). So, yes eventually the Call of Duty franchise is going to lose popularity but I don't see the franchise ever ending. Even if it eventually reaches the point of say selling 2 million copies total, it will still be profitable and make money for Activision. Music games get old, FPS games will never die off.
The Call of Duty franchise has created a goldmine for FPS developed games and for EA. While no where near the success of COD games, Battlefield Bad Company 2 sold something like over 5 million copies total which is a lot of money for EA and Dice. Medal of Honor has already sold over 4 million copies in total, again being a huge success for EA. EA has Crysis 2 coming out which isn't really a direct competitor to the Call of Duty series, but it's obviously an FPS and fans from both the COD and Battlefield series will give it a shot, resulting in more success.
But Crysis 2 is no where near EA's major players to bank off the success of Call of Duty, Battlefield 3 is coming out this fall, Medal of Honor 2 is already in development and they have the core studios of Infinity Ward(the guys that made it happen, now known as Respawn) signed on with EA to release a few games, so EA is going to make massive profit of the success of Call of Duty and perhaps be the publisher who goes on to beat Activision and control the majority of market share in the video game industry.
Another thing is, a spin off Call of Duty is being developed right now by a new studio called Sledgehammer Games, I don't expect this to be an AAA Call of Duty title, nor have the "full" Call of Duty experience(Perhaps no co-op or something). So, yes eventually the Call of Duty franchise is going to lose popularity but I don't see the franchise ever ending. Even if it eventually reaches the point of say selling 2 million copies total, it will still be profitable and make money for Activision. Music games get old, FPS games will never die off.
The Call of Duty franchise has created a goldmine for FPS developed games and for EA. While no where near the success of COD games, Battlefield Bad Company 2 sold something like over 5 million copies total which is a lot of money for EA and Dice. Medal of Honor has already sold over 4 million copies in total, again being a huge success for EA. EA has Crysis 2 coming out which isn't really a direct competitor to the Call of Duty series, but it's obviously an FPS and fans from both the COD and Battlefield series will give it a shot, resulting in more success.
But Crysis 2 is no where near EA's major players to bank off the success of Call of Duty, Battlefield 3 is coming out this fall, Medal of Honor 2 is already in development and they have the core studios of Infinity Ward(the guys that made it happen, now known as Respawn) signed on with EA to release a few games, so EA is going to make massive profit of the success of Call of Duty and perhaps be the publisher who goes on to beat Activision and control the majority of market share in the video game industry.