Julia Stoll
Research expert covering TV and video media
Call of Duty (CoD) - Statistics & Facts
Despite two decades of annual releases under its belt, gamers still cannot get enough of Call of Duty. The Call of Duty (CoD) first-person shooter video series has generated more than 500 million lifetime unit sales, making it one of the bestselling and top-grossing video game franchises worldwide. So, what does it mean to be one of the biggest titles in video gaming?
Call of Duty accounts for most of its publisher Activision Blizzard’s net bookings and was arguably one of the main factors in Microsoft acquiring the gaming company in the biggest video gaming acquisition of all time. The importance of the series cannot be overstated – it took 18 months to close the deal, and Call of Duty availability on other platforms was at the core of drawn-out negotiations between Microsoft and other platform holders. In July 2023, Sony finally agreed to a 10-year deal with Microsoft to keep the Call of Duty franchise on PlayStation. Despite not being able to claim the series as an Xbox platform exclusive, the ability to offer Call of Duty games on the Xbox Game Pass was another strategic factor for Microsoft to entice new audiences to its gaming subscription service.
When looking at the most popular gaming genres, Call of Duty’s popularity comes as no surprise: a global survey of gamers in the second quarter of 2024 found that shooter games were ranked as the most popular gaming genre, ranking ahead of action adventures and sports games.
Call of Duty: Mobile enjoyed great success in its opening months, amassing over 100 million downloads worldwide in the first two months after release. The title generated an approximate in-app revenue of 1.7 billion U.S. dollars since release. By following the trend of incorporating a battle royale mode, Call of Duty: Mobile managed to rank among the top-grossing mobile battle royale shooters worldwide.
Mostly known as a premium franchise, the cross-platform free-to-play (F2P) release of Call of Duty: Warzone in March 2020 was also an immediate hit, generating more than 50 million downloads in the first month of release and currently claiming more than 100 million players. Warzone features three primary game modes: plunder, resurgence, and again, battle royale with up to 150 players in a single match. After amassing more than 50 million pre-registrations , a mobile version of Warzone was released in early 2024.
Impact of the Call of Duty series
With more than 100 million monthly active users of Call of Duty and over 250 million annual players at the most recently reported period, the shooter series is arguably one of the most prominent franchises in gaming. Total life-to-date consumer spending on the Call of Duty series has surpassed 30 billion U.S. dollars, making it comparable to the biggest media franchises worldwide.Call of Duty accounts for most of its publisher Activision Blizzard’s net bookings and was arguably one of the main factors in Microsoft acquiring the gaming company in the biggest video gaming acquisition of all time. The importance of the series cannot be overstated – it took 18 months to close the deal, and Call of Duty availability on other platforms was at the core of drawn-out negotiations between Microsoft and other platform holders. In July 2023, Sony finally agreed to a 10-year deal with Microsoft to keep the Call of Duty franchise on PlayStation. Despite not being able to claim the series as an Xbox platform exclusive, the ability to offer Call of Duty games on the Xbox Game Pass was another strategic factor for Microsoft to entice new audiences to its gaming subscription service.
The annual Call of Duty release cycle
With annual main series releases every fall, Call of Duty has become a mainstay in the PC and console gaming segment, regularly topping the charts until the next release is published. The most recent entry in the series is Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, which was released in October 2024, and according to its publisher and developers, had the biggest launch month in Call of Duty history in terms of total players, hours played, and total matches. While each title features a single player story campaign, it is the online multiplayer gameplay that draws in competitive gamers worldwide. Being able to access the game on Game Pass on launch day arguably gave Black Ops 6 a massive boost in user engagement.When looking at the most popular gaming genres, Call of Duty’s popularity comes as no surprise: a global survey of gamers in the second quarter of 2024 found that shooter games were ranked as the most popular gaming genre, ranking ahead of action adventures and sports games.
Successful jump into mobile and F2P
Call of Duty titles have been available on many platforms and by moving into mobile and free-to-play (F2P), CoD expanded its footprint event further.Call of Duty: Mobile enjoyed great success in its opening months, amassing over 100 million downloads worldwide in the first two months after release. The title generated an approximate in-app revenue of 1.7 billion U.S. dollars since release. By following the trend of incorporating a battle royale mode, Call of Duty: Mobile managed to rank among the top-grossing mobile battle royale shooters worldwide.
Mostly known as a premium franchise, the cross-platform free-to-play (F2P) release of Call of Duty: Warzone in March 2020 was also an immediate hit, generating more than 50 million downloads in the first month of release and currently claiming more than 100 million players. Warzone features three primary game modes: plunder, resurgence, and again, battle royale with up to 150 players in a single match. After amassing more than 50 million pre-registrations , a mobile version of Warzone was released in early 2024.
The future of Call of Duty
The future direction of the Call of Duty series can be seen as a compass for trends within the gaming industry. For example, despite topping premium charts all over, Microsoft’s strategy to release Call of Duty on Game Pass suggests increased monetization through subscriptions and microtransactions and less reliance on full game sales. Additionally, after investing over 70 billion U.S. dollars to acquire Activision Blizzard, Microsoft has reportedly established a new committee within the Activision division to oversee important decisions regarding the future of the Call of Duty franchise. This news was met by mixed reactions from the gaming industry, which is keeping a watchful eye on the development of the franchise under its new owners.
