The Xbox Game Pass launch of Activision’s first-person shooter, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, has benefited Microsoft without hurting the game’s sales figures, according to analysts.
Daniel Ahmad, Director of Research and Insights at Niko Partners, and Mat Piscatella, Executive Director and Video Game Industry Analyst at Circana (NPD), have both reported that the day one availability of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on Xbox Game Pass has benefited Microsoft rather than bringing harm to the game’s sales.
Ahmad mentioned that, based on the preliminary data he has seen, launch sales for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 have been similar to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, with PlayStation and Steam both offsetting the decline on Xbox. On the other hand, the game’s day one availability on Game Pass has added a significant number of players into the ecosystem via Xbox and PC. In other words, the company still generated a healthy degree of sales and is also benefiting from subscription revenue as well as a larger overall player base.
Similarly, Piscatella stated that, based on supporting data points gathered via Circana’s Player Engagement Tracker, coming to Game Pass very likely helped boost engagement for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on Xbox. Furthermore, it also hasn’t appeared to significantly detract from engagement across other platforms. That said, he did caution that his information is based on preliminary data, as is the case with Ahmad’s data, and that more data is needed to derive a more concrete conclusion.
Meanwhile, Christopher Dring, head of GameIndustry.biz, had a similar perspective to share with regards to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 physical sales in the UK on PS5. According to him, PS5 sales of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 remain steady year-on-year in comparison to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. However, he did report that overall launch sales are 10% lower compared to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, almost entirely due to a drop in sales on Xbox.
