Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare hasn’t been as good in the sales charts as Ghosts (which is really sort of sad, but I’ll get to that in a second). Leaked NPD information from November of this year revealed that the series’ annual decline has been rather sharp this year.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare sold 27 percent less than Call of Duty: Ghosts over the course of the same time period year-on-year. Make no mistake, the game still made money, but just not as much money as it did last year.

The sad news, of course, is that Advanced Warfare is miles and miles better than Ghosts. The multiplayer, the graphics, the campaign and the new core of gameplay make Advanced Warfare a unique Call of Duty experience, and even that pile of good stuff couldn’t get the franchise completely out of its own way.

Was Ghosts bad enough that it kept you from picking up Advanced Warfare? Heck, I grabbed Ghosts in order to do some research this past spring before a Call of Dutypreview event, and I couldn’t stand the game. I wound up really enjoying Advanced Warfare this year, and that comes from someone who swore of Call of Duty years ago.