Call of Duty Franchise Revenue Higher Than the MCU, Black Ops 4 Has 16% More Active Users Compared to BO3

Modern Warfare 2 Sales

We all know how big of a franchise Call of Duty is, right? But did you know that it’s so big that it even beats out the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) in terms of revenue earned, and even doubles that of of the entire Star Wars saga?

This was revealed during Activision’s earnings call where Activision big cheese Bobby Kotick shared the following:

“Our engagement to date is better than any Call of Duty content in recent years, and spectator viewing is higher than ever before. As a franchise, Call of Duty has now generated more revenue than the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the box office, and double that of the cumulative box office of Star Wars. We have an exciting future planned for Call of Duty players, including our new Call of Duty professional player opportunities, and lots of exciting new content in 2019 and beyond.”

In another part of the call, Activision exec Collister Johnson compares Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 to Black Ops 3, and how total active users, engagement and hours played is up.

“Unit sell-through after the first three weeks is pacing ahead of Black Ops 3, PC sell-through more than 3 times higher, and with significant shifts to full-game downloads. Total active users in the first three weeks are up 16% over Black Ops 3, with strong growth across all modes, and engagement and hours played is up over 20% versus Black Ops 3. So it’s worth underscoring that given Black Ops 3 generated more in-game net bookings than any other Call of Duty title, this level of engagement in Black Ops 4 should result in strong in-game revenue in Q4 and into 2019.”

Surprised? Bear in mind though, the Call of Duty franchise was around first (way back in 2003), though it’s still an impressive feat.

Source: SeekingAlpha (login required)

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