Call of Duty Franchise Is Worth $31 Billion in 2023 With Nearly 450 Million Units in Sales, Reveals Report

Following the verdict of Judge Corley on FTC v. Microsoft case, the Xbox maker has been high on confidence and why not. Now it’s possible for the company to proceed with its deal with Call of Duty publisher Activision. After more than a year of witnessing the historic announcement, the supporters of this proposed acquisition must be feeling relieved.

On the other hand, gaming lovers are curious to see what happens to the biggest FPS IP in the world. So far, Activision has been successful in growing it in terms of reaching millions of players. However, with the aid of Microsoft’s resources, the overall worth of this franchise could stretch even further than what it is right now. But has anyone ever wondered how much much vast is the CoD brand in terms of making money and selling millions of copies annually?

With 425 million units sold, more than GTA, Call of Duty could break the 500 million mark soon in the next few years

Yes, that’s exactly right. Activision’s iconic series is even bigger than Rockstar Games’ evergreen Grand Theft Auto when it comes to selling most number of copies worldwide. TweakTown’s Derek Strickland recently posted a tweet while analyzing the future of CoD and how it could face numerous, unexpected transitions under the roof of Microsoft going forward.

In the process of explaining his points, Derek shared some interesting numbers to show the might of Call of Duty as a video game brand. His report, from December 2022, clearly shows that the overall revenue of this franchise has been on a rise since the last three years. In 2020, it stood at $27 billion, followed by $30 billion in 2021, and $31 billion by the end of 2022 and as of the present year too, since Activision hasn’t introduced a refreshed figure so far.

READ MORE: Classic Call of Duty Games Receive a 360 Degree Resurgence of Over 100,000 Xbox Players

Moreover, what’s even more interesting to note is the number of sales Call of Duty has witnessed for all of its games. Per Derek’s report, from 2022, the series has sold 425 million units across the globe. It’s the fourth biggest-selling video game franchise. Only IPs like Pokemon (480 million), Tetris (495 million), and Super Mario (776.8 million) are ahead of Activision’s first-person shooter brand.

If someone’s thinking that Rockstar’s GTA is more popular than CoD, then that’s not the case. In fact, GTA has sold ‘only’ 400 million units so far, which is 25 million units less than the FPS series. Both these IPs, as of 2023, are in the top 5 best-selling video game franchises of all time.

Coming back to Call of Duty, hardcore fans of the long-running series will be eager to see its future growth when it comes under Microsoft and Xbox. Considering there’s no other formidable rival to this brand, not yet at least, one can say it can touch the mark of 500 million units soon. Only if the upcoming installments end up receiving an overwhelmingly positive response.

WATCH THIS STORY: Top 5 Best Selling Call of Duty Games of All Time