Deep in their hearts everyone knows how COD is still going to be #1 on sales, but I think more and more people are starting to catch on on how that is kind of unfair, seeing that COD is just a lot of the same and isn't really bringing anything new or inovative, or great visuals for the money that you have to spend on it every year.

Same here. I thought the live stream was kind of boring. Even the live audience seemed bored, and these were top twitch streamers that traveled to the event. Every release we hear "cod killer", but that is not going to happen. both franchises have enough followers that your not going to have 1 top game. The other thing that concerned me was how that one guy was talking about how much more "brutal" this game is. In this day and age I'm sure the media and the anti-video game crowd is just going to run with that.

I don't know. I felt that Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare refreshingly shook things up enough to keep people invested in the series. The only game people really noticed the series going stale is Call of Duty: Ghosts (and maybe MW3), and that's mainly because Infinity Ward tried to market this as next-gen gaming with new engine tech (which it didn't, though it was cool how they have the engine coverting low-poly models to high polys on the fly), and a so-called refreshing change from Modern Warfare with a meaningful story involving a dog. I don't think we hit a strong enough trend where people are noticing yearly releases can get tiring. The skepticism is happening too slowly for Activision to worry about (I don't even know if it can even be called gradual when they keep hitting record sales).

Then there's Activision changing policy to have their pool of developers work with three years instead of two. Whether that means Activision is noticing their games aren't high enough quality by frequently rushing games out, or a pre-emptive strategy to give studios more time to get creative with the franchise, remains to be seen (I think Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 succeeded?). Personally I feel sorry for these studios because I'd be burnt out and bored of making Call of Duty games. Even CD Projekt Red (at long freaking last) gets a tiny bit of variety with The Witcher board game, and Cyberpunk 2077 (anyone still remember that? I'm hoping it's not cancelled). I get that the money pays well, but doing one franchise for the rest of your life would drive me insane. My creativity would bottom out, and I'd be coming into work solely for the paycheck, as my passion dissipates and I wait for my chance at retirement... Or quitting and forming my own indie studio because I don't mind murderously painful stressful work.