Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Breaks Records on Release Day

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, the latest game from Activision, has become the company's biggest Call of Duty launch ever. Microsoft announced this during their earnings presentation on Wednesday. The game set a new franchise record for the number of players on release day and attracted many new subscribers to Xbox Game Pass. Sales on PlayStation and Windows PC via Steam increased by 60% compared to last year. Microsoft didn't reveal how well the game sold on their own platform, Xbox. Activision Blizzard shared that the Call of Duty franchise has sold over 500 million copies, making it one of the best-selling franchises in the video game industry. Microsoft's chief financial officer, Amy Hood, highlighted that the Black Ops 6 launch differs from last year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. The majority of sales for Modern Warfare 3 happened in the first financial quarter after its release, but Hood expects Black Ops 6 to keep making money. This is due to two reasons: first, because Black Ops 6 is available on Game Pass from day one, players need to stay subscribed to keep playing. Second, Xbox players need an online connection to play, so even if they buy the game outright, they still need to pay for an Xbox subscription. Thanks to Black Ops 6 and other releases, Xbox content and services revenue increased by 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. " Black Ops 6 was released on October 25 with various editions ranging from $70 to $100. Like other games in the Black Ops franchise, this one focuses on covert operations inspired by real-life war. This time, the game is set in the early 1990s during the Gulf War. Ironically, Black Ops 6 is the seventh game in the Call of Duty subset.