Activision thinks digital will help Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare outsell 2013's Ghosts

Analysts predict that Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare could sell significantly worse than last year’s Call of Duty: Ghosts, but Activision Publishing boss Eric Hirshberg disagrees.

The CEO said that analysts’ estimates are off because more people are planning to buy digitally than ever before. Advanced Warfare is available to purchase online today on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. Hirshberg thinks that a lot of consumers will choose that route. If that’s true, it could make the difference since one analyst, Cowen and Company’s Doug Creutz, is basing his estimate on physical preorder numbers from retail sites like Amazon. The Call of Duty franchise has ended the last several years as the best-selling shooter. It’s a multibillion-dollar brand for Activision and a big part of just how huge triple-A gaming has grown over the last decade.