Modern Warfare Among Best-Selling Games of 2019
The News
Despite launching just six days before the end of October 2019, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is not only the best-selling game of the month but also the second best-selling game over the last 12 months. In a recent Tweet, industry analyst Mat Piscatella revealed the Top-10 best-selling games of the last 12 months.
Analysis
Despite being the best-selling fighting game ever, CoD: MW surpassed Smash Ultimate as the second-best selling game over the last 12 months. According to Nintendo’s financial reports, Smash Ultimate sold over 15.71 million units since launch.
Meanwhile, Read Dead Redemption 2 continues its sales explosion. In a recent earnings call, Take-Two Interactive revealed that RDR2 sold over 26 million copies since launch. Not only does this make RDR2 the best-selling game over the last 12 months, but it also makes the game one of the best-selling console games ever as the data does not include PC sales.
Meanwhile, MW sold somewhere between 16 and 26 million units in just six days. Because we already know that MW sold over 10 million units during launch weekend, the game likely sold six million units from October 29-31. This just proves that the Call of Duty franchise continues to push the needle in terms of sales and popularity.
But can Activision Blizzard take advantage of the popularity? From a financial viewpoint, MW ditched the loot-box system for a battle pass. Given the annual release schedule, Activision likely will reveal another CoD game in the spring. This means MW has less than 10 months to not only sell another 10 million units but also to capitalize on its battle system format. Both are bold moves for Activision and the CoD franchise.
Conclusion
Modern Warfare has a long way to go to surpass MW3′s 30 million units sold, but it is off to a good start. Time will tell if the game is the best-selling in the series, but perhaps the Battle Pass system will encourage players to buy the game.
Will MW reach 30 million in sales? While most critics believe this is possible, we here at GamingROI are skeptical. Earlier in the year, Activision revealed that Call of Duty would replace the season pass with a “battle pass”. Because this new approach appears cosmetic, the surge in Modern Warfare sales will likely taper off as 2020 games launch. GamingROI will continue to monitor the latest Call of Duty sales, but the game still has a ways to go before becoming one of the best all time.