Call of Duty, despite its ups and downs, consistently remains to be one of the most popular video game franchises in the world. And with Activision consistently supporting both Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Warzone since their releases, it's not surprising to know that the company has been doing incredibly well financially.
However, according to recent reports from Activision itself, its most recent financial results for the third quarter of 2020 have exceeded expectations, with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's first year of sales now the highest in the entire series' history, with nearly two-thirds of sales being digital. It adds that, in Q3 2020 alone, more than $1.2 billion in revenue has been made from microtransactions across all of its titles. PC microtransactions for Warzone, in particular, are four times higher this year.
While there is no singular reason for the games' successes, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is most likely a major contributing factor, as it has turned many people towards gaming due to being forced to stay in their homes. There's already a precedent for it; Nintendo's Animal Crossing: New Horizons undoubtedly benefited from it and is responsible for a massive increase in profits for Nintendo.
Activision still has Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War coming out in a couple of weeks and that is expected to be another sales success for the company, given how popular its beta was. In fact, it was the most downloaded beta in the whole series.
However, this success hasn't protected Activision from criticism of its games. Modern Warfare and Warzone have, in the past, been routinely criticized for certain issues like bugs and glitches. Even the Black Ops beta suffered from an abundance of cheaters. While that last one will hopefully be addressed once the game actually launches, there are many players that are doubtful that Activision will do anything meaningful to properly rectify the issue.
Also, only this month, Activision decided to shut down its Versaille studio as part of a restructuring effort, leaving 400 employees out of work. The company has routinely reduced its staff in the past in order to cut costs, despite doing financially well.
Last year, 800 employees were let go, following confirmation that Activision's 2018 was the most successful year, financially speaking, in the company's history. This led to widespread criticism against Activision and accusations of prioritizing CEO Bobby Kotick's own salary over the well being of its work force.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Source: Charlie INTEL