Call of Duty is a dominant force in console gaming, and the ongoing FTC case against Microsoft serves as a potent reminder of that fact.
Last night, reporters covering the latest development in the Xbox Activision deal discovered that some of the documents Sony had submitted had been incorrectly redacted, meaning information in those documents could still be deciphered. The biggest takeaway was the $200+ million budgets for games like The Last of Us Part 2 and Horizon Forbidden West, but information about the ongoing strength of Call of Duty was also uncovered.
CharlieIntel notes a passage that begins by stating that "more than 13 million unique PlayStation users have played Call of Duty." That's two-thirds of the console's US user base who have dipped into the franchise, but there's also evidence that points out how die-hard some of its fans are.
In 2021, Sony claims that "about 1 million users spent 100% of their playing time on Call of Duty." Additionally, while the average player spent 16 hours per year playing Call of Duty, six million spent 70% of their time on the platform with this specific franchise, amounting to an average of 296 hours a year.
All that game-time adds up to some significant spending. The Verge notes that "CoD represented $800 million in PlayStation revenue in the United States alone," totalling around $1.5 billion worldwide. That's before we count for in-game purchases, which PlayStation chief Jim Ryan said amounts to $15.9 billion per year, on average.
All this goes a long way towards explaining why Sony is so afraid of an Xbox-exclusive Call of Duty. Millions of extremely loyal fans leaving PlayStation to go and spend their time and money with Xbox would be a significant hit, and even if a partnership deal is reached, there'll be a ticking clock hanging over the franchise.
