By Sagar V. Mankar The Call of Duty series has reached a major milestone, selling over 500 million copies worldwide, as confirmed by publisher Activision-Blizzard to The Washington Post. This places the franchise among the top-selling game series in history, alongside Tetris, the Pokémon, and Mario.
Call of Duty series debuts under Microsoft’s ownership last year, following its $69 billion acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. The acquisition has proven beneficial for Microsoft, significantly boosting its earnings. During recent earnings calls, Microsoft reported that Xbox’s revenue increased by 61% for the first quarter of fiscal year 2025.
The success follows the highly anticipated release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, the first game launched under Xbox’s management. This new installment received widespread praise and achieved strong sales, setting records for the franchise.
Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella noted that Black Ops 6 saw the highest number of first-day players in the series’ history and led to a significant increase in Xbox Game Pass subscriptions. Nadella also pointed out that sales on platforms like PlayStation and Steam were up 60% compared to the previous year. This growth supports Microsoft’s “multiplatform” approach – expanding game accessibility across different devices and services.
Supporting this claim, data from Circana’s Player Engagement Tracker showed that, on October 28, 52% of active Xbox Series players and 34% of active PlayStation 5 players accessed Call of Duty HQ, the central hub for Black Ops 6 and other Call of Duty experiences. These figures represented record engagement levels for the platform. Before the release of Black Ops 6, player engagement was notably lower, highlighting the boost the new game brought to player activity.
At present, Microsoft/Xbox has not disclosed the specific sales figures for Black Ops 6. However, analysts interviewed by GamesIndustry.biz predicted that Black Ops 6 may increase Game Pass subscriber numbers by 2.5 to 4 million. Additionally, they have anticipated a considerable effect on the sales of Black Ops 6. Typically, Call of Duty is the top-selling game annually, but doubts remain if Black Ops 6 will continue this trend, especially since it is accessible through Game Pass.