• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

For The First Time In A Decade, Xbox Is Call Of Duty's Most Popular Platform

havoc00

Member
For the first time in a decade, Call of Duty is more popular on Xbox than it is on any other platform, due in no small part to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, launching on Game Pass.

"It's about being accessible in more places, and there's no real platform out there today, other than what we're doing with Xbox [Game Pass] that isn't really per-device," Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said in a recent interview with Game File. "Most of the gaming platforms are, 'This device runs this [game],' and trying to think about a platform that looks more horizontally and connects creators and players in that way, that's what we're trying to do, and that's the feedback we're getting."


The last time Xbox was the most-used platform for a Call of Duty title was in 2014, shortly after the launch of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, according to CharlieIntel. So what's the reason behind Xbox's sudden reclamation of the Call of Duty crown? According to Spencer, the answer is Game Pass.

Spencer says Microsoft and Activision's marketing teams worked well together and ultimately did an excellent job of getting the word out that Black Ops 6 would be available on Game Pass.

"I'm really proud of Black Ops 6," Spencer said. "I really saw the [Microsoft and Activision] teams gel together as they both built [the Game Pass marketing] promotion," he said.

Microsoft's promotional efforts didn't end after the game's release, of course. The launch of Black Ops 6 Season 1 saw the introduction of a creepy new Easter egg for the game's iconic Nuketown map, which is set in a Fallout-esque nuclear test site complete with model homes inhabited by mannequins.

Prior to Microsoft's acquisition of Activision in 2022, Call of Duty maintained popularity on Xbox partially due to Microsoft paying Activision for exclusive rights to some of the franchise's DLC and marketing campaigns.




















Report a problem
 

Mr Moose

Member
GcWqOD5XAAAzBfJ
 
Prior to Microsoft's acquisition of Activision in 2022, Call of Duty maintained popularity on Xbox partially due to Microsoft paying Activision for exclusive rights to some of the franchise's DLC and marketing campaigns.
This is worded really strangely, makes it seem like ms had exclusive rights to cod stuff before 2022, but that ended in 2015; for almost 10 years sony had those exclusive rights instead.
 

FunkMiller

Gold Member
"It's about being accessible in more places, and there's no real platform out there today, other than what we're doing with Xbox [Game Pass] that isn't really per-device," Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said in a recent interview with Game File. "Most of the gaming platforms are, 'This device runs this [game],' and trying to think about a platform that looks more horizontally and connects creators and players in that way, that's what we're trying to do, and that's the feedback we're getting."

Pretty sure it's all about spending billions to buy up game developers, fat boy.
 

Gamerguy84

Member
[QUOTE ]Spencer says Microsoft and Activision's marketing teams worked well together and ultimately did an excellent job of getting the word out that Black Ops 6 would be available on Game Pass.[/QUOTE]

Aren't they the same company?
 
Last edited:

TheDarkPhantom

Gold Member
Give a game away for free on a platform starved for quality games (or releases in general) and people download and play, amazing! Anyway, been having a blast on PS5, you're welcome M$ 💰
 

Mattyp

Gold Member
Common sense says otherwise. Until I see proof otherwise, I'm sticking by that.

Commonsense of what? It’s doing huge numbers across the board, the vast majority of Xbox players are buying DLC, the Sony sales are also record breaking.

The largest grossing games are actually free to play, gamepass is not hurting the revenue this game has created. We will get the activation revenue next quarter and sure it will be huge growth.

Along with gamepass and the Xbox division. A game being played by 10s of millions of people in launch week just prints money in DLC, all I see is the green skin right now.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
Commonsense of what? It’s doing huge numbers across the board, the vast majority of Xbox players are buying DLC, the Sony sales are also record breaking.

The largest grossing games are actually free to play, gamepass is not hurting the revenue this game has created. We will get the activation revenue next quarter and sure it will be huge growth.

Along with gamepass and the Xbox division. A game being played by 10s of millions of people in launch week just prints money in DLC, all I see is the green skin right now.

Will be interesting to see if Microsoft announces updated Game Pass subscription numbers. A lot of folks are going to have eyes on financials for both ABK and Xbox Game Pass this go around.
 
Player numbers are a joke metric. Look at the achievement stats for gamepass games. Most people don't even earn the first achievement. Which means they try the game once and never play it again. Why else you think most publishers ain't willing to launch on a subscription service? They want to sell their games instead of flaunting inflated meaningless player stats.
 
Last edited:

Laptop1991

Member
Why is this surprising,, it's basically free for game pass subscribers, maybe there will be some that sign up to play it, but most will just download and play COD, it's always been a popular game, i would be more surprised if Xbox wasn't the most popular platform.
 
Top Bottom