Black Ops III has the most people interested according to a Nielsen survey

Surprise, surprise

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Of all the video games releasing this holiday season, Call of Duty is poised to be the most successful. Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before.

This conclusion was formed as a result of a survey performed by Nielsen N.V. — the consumer information firm that’s well-known for its long-running television ratings. The Nielsen Game Rank division headed up this study and found that Call of Duty: Black Ops III is the most highly-anticipated multi-platform title releasing this fall. Trailing by a slim margin are Fallout 4 and Assassin’s Creed Syndicate.

Even though Black Ops III was pegged as game with the overall highest consumer awareness and interest, it actually came in second to Halo 5, which was cordoned off into a separate area of the survey for platform-exclusive titles. In the same vein, Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection was judged to be the most highly-anticipated Sony title. Yoshi’s Woolly World took home those honors for Nintendo’s systems. StarCraft II expansion Legacy of the Void led the PC category.

Consumer interest is an odd trait to attempt to quantify. Nielsen’s methodology was to survey 4,800 people who play games who are age 7 to 54. The study took place between late August and mid-September. The research group then measured individual awareness, purchase interest, consumer rating, and other factors. From that, it came to the conclusions presented in this study.

Holiday 2015: The Most-Anticipated Games [Nielsen via GamesIndustry International]