Threeview: Call of Duty: Black Ops II reviewed by a critic, an analyst, and an academic

The video game industry has a number of mega-franchises — Warcraft, Halo, The Elder Scrolls — but none of these command the same level of attention (or profit) as Activision Blizzard’s first-person shooter blockbuster, Call of Duty. The most recent outing from this military series, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, debuted again to a star-laden commercial blitz and a midnight launch.

But can Black Ops II sustain Call of Duty’s amazing momentum? We turn to industry analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities and Soraya Murray of the University of California at Santa Cruz to provide additional perspective on the success of this latest Call of Duty game.