Original story: The release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 set new records for Xbox, and was the biggest launch of the franchise in its history.
During Microsoft’s earnings call for its first quarter of 2025, CEO Satya Nadella revealed that the game broke records for day one players and Game Pass subscribers.
Black Ops 6 is the first Activision Blizzard title to launch day-and-date on Game Pass.
The title also saw unit sales on PlayStation and Steam increase by 60% year-over-year.
“This speaks to our strategy of meeting gamers where they are by enabling them to play more games across the screens they spend their time on,” said Nadella.
Chief financial officer Amy Hood noted that the difference with this launch compared to previous entries in the franchise was the game being available on Game Pass, and it requiring an online connection.
“For players who play through Game Pass, the subscription revenue is recognised over time,” said Hood. “The game requires an online connection to play so even for players who purchase the standalone game, revenue recognition will also occur ratably over time.”
Microsoft has reported a strong Q1, with its Xbox content and services revenue up 61% year-on-year.
The firm acquired Activision Blizzard in October 2023 following regulatory hurdles in the UK, EU, and US.
As part of the deal, Ubisoft obtained cloud streaming rights for Call of Duty and other Activision Blizzard titles over the next 15 years.
Microsoft has also made binding agreements with Sony and Nintendo to keep Call of Duty on its platforms for the next ten years.
Analysts predicted that Black Ops 6 could boost Game Pass subscribers by 2.5 million to 4 million. They also suggested the launch of the title into Game Pass may hurt sales of the game.
We discussed the potential for Black Ops 6 to drive Game Pass subscriptions in our latest episode of The GamesIndustry.biz Microcast.
Update: Activision has told The Washington Post that, with Black Ops 6’s recent launch, the franchise as a whole has now surpassed 500 million copies sold.
The publication noted that this makes the series one of the best-selling games franchise of all time, alongside Tetris and Pokémon, but still behind Mario titles.
