In a recent press release to investors, Activision Blizzard announced that the Call of Duty franchise has generated more than $3 billion in net bookings over the last 12 months.
The latest release, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, set a new record for the series. It also resulted in the best November for both monthly players and hours played in history. Not only are net bookings up by 80% year-on-year, but sell-through is also up 40% for the same period.
Over the past year, more than 200 million people have played a game in the series. The highest number of players ever recorded for the series was seen across console and PC.
In addition to the benefits the new launch has brought, Call of Duty: Mobile and Call of Duty: Warzone have each made their own mark on the series.
Warzone managed to surpass 85 million players this year. This is hugely impressive and shows that Activision Blizzard has evolved the Call of Duty series from a buy-to-play yearly release into an online experience with what effectively amounts to yearly expansions.
Already plans have been announced to provide additional free content for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, including a full year of seasons. New content is also coming to the free-to-play entries though, giving players a reason to engage regardless of whether or not they’ve purchased the new game.
As the series moves from a yearly release that you play for a month and then ignore into a game-as-a-service, there’s never been a better time to get involved in it in some way. With a fantastic free-to-play offering as we move into this new generation of consoles on offer as well, we’re definitely seeing the dawn of a new age for the series that’s set to continue for years to come.