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In addition to announcing 100 million players for Call of Duty: Warzone, Activision has now disclosed that the Call of Duty franchise has sold 400 million copies to date.
The series debuted back in 2003, so the milestone comes in just 18 years. That’s an average of around 22 million copies sold per year. Activision specifically said the number refers to “premium game sales,” so it seemingly doesn’t count any free copies.
The number covers games sold dating back to the original Call of Duty in 2003 up until Black Ops Cold War. “Thank you for creating countless memories, shared experiences with friends and for being a part of the greatest community in the world,” Activision said.
Activision announced in March 2019 that the Call of Duty franchise had reached 300 million copies sold to date, so the figure has jumped by an astonishing 100 million in just two years.
The Call of Duty series premiered in 2003 with Infinity Ward’s World War II shooter Call of Duty. No mainline Call of Duty game was released in 2004, but a new entry has launched every year since, with development shifting around between Activision-owned studios like Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer Games, with support from other owned studios like Raven Software and High Moon, among others.
Activision has not provided a breakdown of sales by individual title or brand, but the Black Ops and Modern Warfare brands are believed to be the most successful.
In addition to the premium Call of Duty series, the franchise is now heavily involved in the free-to-play space with Call of Duty: Warzone and Call of Duty: Mobile. Those games have become massive hits, with Warzone recently reaching 100 million players and Call of Duty: Mobile hitting 300 million downloads in its first year.
Warzone and Black Ops Cold War kicked off their huge new Season 3 update today, April 22. The Verdansk map has been blown up, and players are awaiting the next big event that begins today at 12 PM PT. Keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.
