Battle lines drawn as blockbuster 'Call of Duty' goes on sale

BATTLE BEGINS: Shoppers queueing for the newest installment of the "Call of Duty" videogame inside a store ahead of the midnight launch of per-ordered copies of the game in western Sydney on Nov 3, 2014.

SYDNEY: Australian gamers were among the world's first to get their hands on the latest instalment of Call of Duty, as publisher Activision sought to boost the blockbuster franchise amid concerns about consumer fatigue. 

While the videogame has been one of the industry's bestsellers, with the 11-year-old series moving more than 100 million units and raking in billions of dollars in revenue, some analysts expect a drop-off in sales for this year's Advanced Warfare instalment compared to 2013's Ghosts.