Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was ‘biggest Call of Duty release ever’
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has become the biggest Call of Duty release ever, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Tuesday during the company’s first-quarter earnings call for fiscal 2025. The latest installment in the popular first-person military shooter franchise set a first-day player record as unit sales on both PlayStation and Steam rose more than 60 percent year-over-year compared to last year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, said Nadella. Black Ops 6 launched on October 25 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X.
Biggest Call of Duty launch ever
Nadella, who reported optimistically first quarter results for Microsoft – with a 14 percent year-over-year increase in operating income thanks to cloud growth – to investors on the earnings call, also confirmed that the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on Xbox Game Pass had set a record for number of subscribers on launch day for a title about the service. “This aligns with our strategy to meet gamers where they are, by enabling them to play more games on the screens they spend their time on.” the Microsoft CEO said during the call.
On the earnings call, Microsoft CFO Amy Hood also addressed the launch of Black Ops 6. “There are two things about the launch that are different from the Call of Duty launch a year ago, where revenue was largely recognized in the quarter of purchase,” Hood said. “First, the game is available on Game Pass, so for players playing through Game Pass, subscription revenue will be recognized over time. Second, the game requires an online connection to play, so even for players who purchase the standalone game, revenue recognition will also be gradual over time.”
However, the outlook for Microsoft’s overall gaming division was not so optimistic. Hood said the company expected gaming revenue to decline by high single digits due to hardware. “We expect revenue growth from Xbox content and services to be relatively flat,” she added.
Black Ops 6 became the first Call of Duty title to launch on Game Pass day one. Although unit sales figures are not available, the game launched successfully on several platforms. Activision confirmed Thursday that the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 had set new records for its first day and opening weekend, surpassing franchise marks for total players, hours played and total matches.
According to SteamDB, the game has attracted a significant player base on Steam graphs. The Call of Duty app, which is required to access Black Ops 6 content, has seen a peak of over 300,000 concurrent players on Steam since the game’s launch. At the time of writing, there are over 102,000 players in the game.
