Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is projected to sell three million copies less than Call of Duty: Ghosts.

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This is according to Cinema Blend , who reports the Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia expects Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare to ship 15% fewer copies in the fourth quarter of 2014, which equates to 17 million instead of 20 million.Call of Duty experienced a down year in 2013 despite Ghosts selling $1 billion into retail —not actual sales to customers—in its first 24 hours.Players may be fatigued by the annual blockbuster franchise, as Call of Duty: Ghosts was met with somewhat lukewarm reception. Bhatia expects this may lead players to holding off on purchasing Advanced Warfare unless “word-of-mouth or reviews are strong”.According to Bhatia 2014 will likely be a down year for PS3 and Xbox 360 sales—50% and 46% respectively—and consumer indecision about upgrading to PS4 and Xbox One may be factors working against cross-generation titles like Advanced Warfare.He does concede that Advanced Warfare could perform better than its predecessor due to the “lack of competition” this year, as Battlefield Hardline has been delayed to early 2015 . Activision’s latest billion dollar franchise, Destiny, has performed well early in its release. It remains to be seen if the Xbox One exclusive Halo: The Master Chief Collection will cut into Advanced Warfare’s sale numbers.Buzz surrounding Advanced Warfare's gameplay has been mostly optimistic as developer Sledgehammer Games introduces futuristic technology like Exo suits, the biggest change to Call of Duty since perks were introduced in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Be sure to check out Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare's IGN First page for detailed previews on multiplayer and the latest look at Exo Survival , a new endless co-op mode.Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare will launch on November 4 for PC, PS4, PS3, Xbox One and Xbox 360.

Michael Martin is a freelance writer from Seattle who is hopelessly addicted to pop culture t-shirts. Send help on Twitter