A new earnings report has set the stage for the future of Activision’s enormously profitable Call of Duty franchise.
During quarter three of 2020, Activision had 111 million monthly active users across its various brands — the most dominant of which, by far, is COD.
Combined, Modern Warfare and Warzone boasted three times more monthly average users than Black Ops 4 had in Q3 2019 — no doubt the result of making Warzone available as a free, standalone release.
Activision also says that Modern Warfare sold more units in its first year than any prior Call of Duty title, with two-thirds of that total sold digitally.
The Call of Duty series is on track to “generate over $1 billion in net bookings this year,” the publisher reports.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is scheduled for release on November 13, with Modern Warfare currently in its sixth “season” of ongoing post-launch support.
In December, Warzone will begin integrating with Black Ops Cold War, and an all-new “season one” will commence.
According to Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, the free-to-play battle royale Warzone will continue to be used as a marketing tool for subsequent installments in the Call of Duty series.