Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is probably a defining episode for the Call of Duty saga as a whole. Not from a creative point of view, but rather for everything it represents for Microsoft. This is the first episode that really benefits from the manufacturer’s support since the latter finalized its takeover of Activision-Blizzard-King, not to mention the fact that it lands directly in Xbox Game Pass, potentially alienating part of Xbox and PC sales. Has the gamble paid off? Generally speaking, yes, definitely.
Game Pass Takes off and Sales Follow
We’ll have to wait a little longer for the real figures, but everything suggests that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is already a great financial success. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced this during the company’s second-quarter report (reported by journalist Tom Warren), declaring that this episode had achieved “the best launch ever for a Call of Duty game”, with a record number of players for its first weekend in the field.
Xbox Game Pass naturally benefits from this, as the CEO also notes that the number of new subscription users has increased significantly, surpassing the record set by Starfield back in its day.
Moreover, it’s not only through Game Pass that this episode has generated numbers. Nadella reports that sales are more than 60% higher on PlayStation and Steam than last year’s episode, Modern Warfare 3, meaning that the low sales on Xbox were more than compensated for by higher sales on other platforms, not to mention new Game Pass members. A groundbreaking launch in the history of the saga, and an even more important one for Microsoft.