It has been 22 years, 11 months and 28 days—and counting—since Call of Duty first appeared, and over those two decades the franchise has become one of the most lucrative in videogame history. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced that it has now surpassed the $40 billion revenue mark.
Reflecting on the success of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, Sharma said: “One of the most celebrated Call of Duty games in its 24-year history, and now $40 billion in lifetime franchise revenue. An incredible milestone. Congrats to the Activision team. And to the players, thank you for being with us.”
With $40 billion in lifetime revenue, Call of Duty trails goliaths such as Mario and Pokémon. It also means that, on average, Call of Duty has earned $4,762,472 a day—a figure that is, to say the least, staggering.
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How it got there is a different question entirely, one that can be answered by the ravenous appetite of consumers in the free market. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 still holds the top spot with over 43 million copies sold, while Modern Warfare (2019) comes in a close second with over 41 million copies sold. But for the most part, the popularity of Call of Duty is driven by Black Ops, particularly its older titles.
The prize for the most successful launch, however, belongs to Modern Warfare 2 (2022), which earned $1 billion in just 10 days alongside 200 million hours played. This came after Activision Blizzard’s sale to Microsoft, which also meant that Modern Warfare 2 was the first time a Call of Duty game had appeared on Steam since 2017’s Call of Duty: WW2—it even made it into Steam’s top 10 games by concurrent players.
The relentless annual release cadence of Call of Duty appears to be paying off for Activision. It is doubtful the franchise could have reached this milestone without the continuous output of Infinity Ward, Treyarch, Sledgehammer Spel, and Raven Software, delivering new titles year after year. At this pace, the Call of Duty franchise seems likely to outlast us all. Picture this: the dry, arid landscape of an Earth ravaged and then left devoid of humanity, with the sole evidence of our existence being the 15th Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 remaster (2193)—I hope it’s good.
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