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Activision CEO Says Call of Duty This Generation's Star Wars
Call of Duty is super popular. There's no disputing it. However, newly appointed Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg may be overstating the case in a recent interview.
Speaking with IGN, Hirshberg called the military FPS franchise "a force of nature" and went on to claim "I think it is the closest thing this generation has to a Star Wars...it's unique and bigger than any musical act or any movie franchise in that capacity."
The key word here is "closest thing." We're not going to argue that Call of Duty is perhaps the most popular franchise in gaming (though Grand Theft Auto or World of WarCraft might have something to say about that), it's pretty silly to compare it to a franchise that has stayed at the top of the pop culture heap for over 30 years. Point of fact: My two preschool-aged nephews love playing with the light sabers I got them for Christmas last year, and have no idea what Call of Duty is. Also, Call of Duty has exactly zero characters that the average person (or even many of the people that actually play the games) could identify. On the plus side, if Han Solo was in Call of Duty, he would definitely shoot first.
We just hope that Hirshberg's Star Wars analogy doesn't mean "We're going to take a beloved franchise and ruin it with a string of horrible, unnecessary sequels." Special Forces Captain Jar Jar Binks is such a nightmarish vision.
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