Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on Xbox and PC Game Pass is allegedly outperforming PlayStation and Steam
When Microsoft first announced the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard in 2022, there were concerns that the company would make games like Call of Duty exclusive to Xbox moving forward. The concerns regarding Call of Duty led to a protracted battle between Microsoft and FTC that saw stern opposition from Sony against Microsoft. The battle became so intense that the then CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment Jim Ryan told Bobby Kotik, the former CEO of Activision-Blizzard, that “I don’t want a new Call of Duty deal. I just want to block your merger.”
Sony did eventually sign a 10-year Call of Duty deal with Microsoft which removed the biggest hurdle to the acquisition and Microsoft closed the deal in October 2023. However, Sony’s concern that owning Call of Duty would give Microsoft a massive advantage in the console space now seems like foreshadowing.
A new rumor claims that more people have played Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on Xbox than PlayStation for the first time in history.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 shines on PC Game Pass and Xbox
According to details shared by leaker @eXtas1stv on X, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is not only “the best performing Call of Duty in the last (at least) 10 years” but the game is also more popular on Xbox than PlayStation. The leaker claims that “a little over half of Black Ops 6 console players played the game on Xbox” which apparently makes Black Ops 6 the first Call of Duty game with more Xbox players than PlayStation.
One of the possible reasons why Xbox enjoyed more CoD players than PlayStation has to do with the fact that the game saw a Day-1 Game Pass release. For gamers who want to play Call of Duty but don’t want to spend the normal $70 price, the $15 Game Pass subscription on Xbox is a no-brainer, since not only do you get the full game, but you also get access to tons of other titles at no additional cost.
Xbox isn’t the only Microsoft platform reaping the rewards of Call of Duty on Game Pass, as PC Game Pass has reportedly seen the single biggest one-day increase in new subscribers. Moreover, PC Game Pass also reportedly accounted for more than 50% of total CoD PC players even though the game has seen considerable success on Steam.
As always, take this leaked information as unofficial and likely to have a few errors. Fortunately, @eXtas1stv believes Activision will start revealing official data soon.
In short, it appears Microsoft’s $6.9 billion bet on Activision-Blizzard is beginning to pay off. It will be interesting to see if future CoD releases and other Activision-Blizzard games carry this momentum.