Activision’s incredibly successful Call of Duty series has reached a sales benchmark that few other game franchises can lay claim to. Since its 2003 debut, the series has moved 300 million units worldwide. This figure includes the sales of Call of Duty’s most recent release, 2018’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.
This news comes courtesy of Activision’s recent financial conference call, where the publisher also confirmed that a new game in the series will be unveiled by June 30, 2019. What the call didn’t reference is specifics about the franchise’s sales numbers. For instance, there does not yet exists a breakdown for Call of Duty sales by its various individual releases. Considering the sheer number of mainline titles and spinoffs, pinning down such finite details about Call of Duty’s sales numbers would likely be a herculean task.
Call of Duty’s reaching 300 million in sales means Activision’s biggest breadwinner has joined a remarkably exclusive club. As of 2016, according to an annual report from SEGA, the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise had crossed 350 million units sold since its debut in 1991. Following the release of Pokemon Ultra Sun and Moon in 2017, the Pokemon game series reached 300 million in sales. Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto should not be too far off the mark. By early 2017, its sales numbers hovered around the 220 million milestone.
Success of its landmark shooter series isn’t the only reason Activision has to celebrate. The publisher’s recent conference call also revealed that FromSoftware’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice exceeded sales expectations. In less than two weeks on the market, Sekiro sold around two million copies worldwide. This impressive milestone has FromSoftware’s latest title on track to outsell each individual entry in the Dark Souls series.
The latest Call of Duty entry, Black Ops 4, is in stores now. Another new installment will undoubtedly launch sometime this fall, though there’s not yet word on what it will entail.
[Source: Activision via GameSpot]
