The Call of Duty series is certainly no stranger to success, but the franchise has now reached new heights. Fresh off the success of Call of Duty: Warzone comes Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. While this is the seventeenth game in the series, the Call of Duty franchise shows no signs of depreciation. Review scores for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War were generally lower than previous installments in the franchise, but only by a small margin.
Now, the NPD Group has reported the new installment is one of the best-selling games of all time. Per the NPD’s January sales statement, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has now broken the top 20 in US game sales. For a game that has only been on the market since November 2020, this is a massive feat. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War now stands amongst some of the best-known games of all time.
It is worth noting that The NPD only began tracking game sales in 1989, so games released before that time are excluded from the list. The NPD Group has not shared the full list of all-time best-selling games, so it is unknown what other games hold top spots. A relatively reliable prediction would be for recent giants such as Grand Theft Auto 5, Minecraft, and Skyrim to hold appear on the list, as they were all featured on the currently available 2010-2019 best-selling games list by The NPD Group. It is also expected that the list includes several other Call of Duty games. There are a total of 10 Call of Duty games featured on the 2010-2019 best-selling games list.
While it is certainly an impressive feat to be featured on the best sales of all-time list, the method of tracking used by The NPD Group is questionable. The data collection group tracks sales not by units shipped, but by dollar amounts. This means that the price of the game is a crucial factor in determining whether it makes the list. Full-priced $60 games undoubtedly have an advantage over cheaper games like Minecraft, which typically costs half that amount. The use of amount in dollar data rather than units sold data also disadvantages older games, as it is unknown whether The NPD Group accounts for inflation in its presentation of the best-selling games.
Still, it is easy to understand why the NPD Group has made this decision. Opening the list up to tracking per unit would be inviting a myriad of shovel-ware onto the list. This would likely result in the best-selling games consisting only of free mobile apps. Regardless of the tracking methods, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and the team behind it should consider it a massive achievement to be featured on the list.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is now available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X.
Source: IGN