Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is Activision’s biggest Call of Duty launch ever, Microsoft said during an earnings presentation on Wednesday. On the earnings call, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Black Ops 6 set a franchise record for release day players and new Xbox Game Pass subscribers. Sales on PlayStation and Windows PC via Steam were up 60% over last year’s sales numbers, he added. Microsoft did not mention how the game has sold on Xbox. Activision Blizzard also told the Washington Post the Call of Duty franchise had sold more than 500 million copies to date, making in one of the best-selling franchises in the video game industry.
Microsoft chief financial officer Amy Hood said the Black Ops 6 launch is different from last year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 release — most purchases for that game were made in the first financial quarter of its release date, but Hood expects Black Ops 6 to continue to continue to be a moneymaker. First, because Black Ops 6 is playable on Game Pass from day one, people will have to stay subscribed to play it, thus continuing to pay. Second, because Black Ops 6 requires Xbox players to have an online connection to play, people who purchased the game outright still need to have an Xbox subscription — paying Microsoft monthly for it— to play.
Thanks to Black Ops 6 and other releases, Xbox content and services revenue increased to 61%, Hood said. “Results were ahead of expectations driven by stronger-than-expected performance in both first- and third-party content as well as consoles,” she said.
Black Ops 6 was released on Oct. 25 with several different editions ranging from $70 to $100. Like other games in the Black Ops franchise, Black Ops 6 focuses on covert operations inspired by real-life war. This iteration puts the player in the early 1990s and the Gulf War. Black Ops 6 is, ironically, the seventh game in the Call of Duty subset.
It’s the first Call of Duty game to be released day one on Game Pass, thanks to Microsoft $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. One big question following the Black Ops 6 release and the burst of Game Pass subscribers is whether those new subscribers will stay subscribed. Microsoft’s Game Pass is monthly subscription that costs, at its most basic plan, $10 and tops off at $20 a month for higher tiers. Only Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers get access to Black Ops 6 for no additional cost. Unsubscribing from Game Pass means losing access to the game. Black Ops 6 requires Xbox players who purchased the game outright to have at least a Game Pass Core subscription, which is $10.
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