Tracking firm OTX is claiming that it’s not just theCall of Dutyname that Infinity Ward has lost with its upcomingModern Warfare 2. According to research, the title drop has also resulted in aloss of brand awareness, with the game now falling from the radar of 20% of American consumers.
“Up until the beginning of May, OTX had been tracking the title asCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. More specifically, we asked a representative group of gamers in the U.S. whether or not they had heard ofCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. At that time, approximately 40 percent of all gamers in the U.S. claimed that they had heard of this title,” explains OTX.
“However, once it became clear that Activision was positioning the title asModern Warfare 2, OTX removedCall of Dutyfrom the consumer survey, and the awareness levels dropped to 20 percent. In other words, theCall of Dutybrand association essentially doubles the awareness for the game. That is quite a remarkable statistic.”
I can certainly see why the decision was made to drop theCoDmoniker. After all, it looks better for a publisher to havetwohuge shooter franchises rather than just one, and it’s good to differentiate between the work of Infinity Ward and Treyarch. Of course, it now looks as if evil publisher Activision will have to marketModern Warfare 2like never before if it hopes to be as successful without theCoDname backing it up.
If one thing Activision is good at (apart from being evil), it’s marketing. I’m fairly certainMW2will get its own brand awareness soon enough.
