Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is on track to be the most successful Call of Duty release in the franchise’s history thanks to a record-breaking launch, according to Activision and Microsoft.
The companies revealed that Black Ops 6 had the biggest three-day opening for the series by many metrics. It had the most players, most hours played, and the most total matches, according to a post on X (formerly Twitter). The game also got a shout-out during Microsoft’s quarterly earnings call on Wednesday.
“Last week’s launch of Black Ops 6 was the biggest Call of Duty release ever, setting a record for day one players, as well as Game Pass subscriber adds on launch day,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said during the call (as reported by Variety). “Unit sales on PlayStation and Steam were also up over 60% year-over-year.”
Thank you #CallOfDuty community for making the launch of #BlackOps6 one for the record books… setting new day one and opening weekend records 🎉 pic.twitter.com/CQ1Uin0zMH
— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) October 30, 2024
While no official numbers have been released, Circana analyst Mat Piscatella confirmed that the launch was indeed huge. He wrote that three days after launch, 52% of all active Xbox Series X/S players and 34% of active PlayStation 5 players launched into Call of Duty HQ, the series’ launcher. “Both were all-time highs for Call of Duty HQ,” Piscatella said, adding that this is “bonkers engagement.”
Black Ops 6 is the first Call of Duty game released following Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which was finalized last October. It’s not the first in the series to hit Xbox Game Pass (that would be 2023’s Modern Warfare 3), but it’s the first to launch day one to the service. Natella touted briefly about how good the game has been for Game Pass, which Piscatella confirms.
“Supporting data points are beginning to suggest that, yes, coming to Game Pass very likely helped boost Call of Duty engagement on Xbox Series, but it also hasn’t appeared to significantly detract from engagement across other platforms. Still early, needs more data,” Piscatella wrote.
In other Xbox financial news, content and services revenue (i.e., games and Game Pass) increased 61% year-over-year, mostly due to the Activision Blizzard acquisition. This doesn’t take into account Black Ops 6‘s release, but does factor in the new Xbox Game Pass Standard and Ultimate tiers price hike. While, hardware revenue is down 29%, Microsoft has put more of its effort into expanding the platforms for its first-party titles, as well as Xbox Game Pass. This all comes in a year where Xbox has laid off at least 2,500 workers and closed four studios.
