Microsoft boss Satya Nadella has called last week’s Black Ops 6 launch the “biggest Call of Duty release ever”, saying its arrival set a record for “Game Pass subscriber adds on launch day.”
News of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s success came amid Microsoft’s Q1 FY2025 financial earnings report, which once again saw the company recording notable gains in gaming revenue, up 43 percent year-over-year. That’s alongside a 61 percent year-on-year increase for Xbox content and services revenue, although growth was primarily a result of Microsoft’s $69bn Activision Blizzard acquisition. In contrast, the company’s Xbox hardware revenue has continued to fall, this time by 29 percent year-on-year.
Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition also helped provide more good news for investors, thanks to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s recent arrival. While opening weekend numbers saw physical sales of Black Ops 6 fall by 10 percent in the UK compared to Modern Warfare 3, likely due to its day one appearance on Game Pass, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella trumpeted the launch in an earnings call today, calling Black Ops 6 the “biggest Call of Duty release ever”.
While Nadella didn’t share specific figures to illustrate his claims, he noted Black Ops 6’s launch had set a “record for day one players as well as Game Pass subscriber adds on launch day.” That Game Pass metric was previously rolled out last year when Nadella announced Bethesda’s Starfield had “set a record for the most Game Pass subscriptions added on a single day ever”, indicating higher numbers for Black Ops 6. However, it remains to be seen if those numbers prove sufficient for Microsoft, given Black Ops 6’s Game Pass launch marks a critical test for its subscription service strategy following its Activision Blizzard acquisition.
Nadella also revealed Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s opening weekend had attracted the highest number of PC players in the franchise’s history, while unit sales on PlayStation and Steam were said to be up 60 percent year-over-year. Black Ops 6 developer Treyarch repeated many of Nadella’s record-setting claims in a message shared on social media, adding that Black Ops 6 had also seen the highest number of total players, hours played, and total matches played during a three-day opening weekend in Call of Duty’s history.
But how has it gone down with the critics? Eurogamer’s Chris Tapsell shared his thoughts on Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s “nonsensical, but surprisingly intimate” campaign earlier this week, calling it a “return to form for the series, mixing the usual, slightly unsavoury real-world set dressing with cracking action, horror twists and tongue-in-cheek charm.” We’ll be reaching a verdict on Black Ops 6’s multiplayer component at a later date.
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