Call of Duty may have its critics, but it also plenty of fans. Millions of them in fact, as publisher Activision is claiming that their annual iteration of their shoot first, shoot later again franchise is the best-selling game worldwide. According to Activision and freshly released NPD data, Call of Duty Black Ops 3 now brings franchise sales in total to over 250 million units across the globe.
Which is…well, huge. And that’s not even counting digital sales, as the NPD only tracks physical sales. Treyarch’s turn behind the franchise wheel was a massive success, and helped make Call of Duty the best-selling game in North America for the seventh year in a row. It’s also the second concurrent year for Call of Duty to be a best-seller internationally, as Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare received the same honours for 2014.
“This achievement is thanks to the amazing experiences created by all of our development teams, and would not be possible without the incredible passion from the Call of Duty community,” president and general manager of the Call of Duty franchise Rob Kostich said in a statement via GameSpot.
We congratulate Treyarch on creating an incredibly engaging and an enormously fun game with Black Ops III and look forward to what’s to come in 2016.
Not bad then. This year’s Call of Duty was always going to be a winner. Treyarch is easily the fan favourite of the trinity of developers attached to the franchise, with the Black Ops series commanding some impressive sales overall. It also helped that Black Ops 3 was a seriously good game, with Gavin saying that:
In the end it is still Call of Duty and if you aren’t a fan of the run and gun mechanic then you are probably not going to be a big fan. However if you’ve ever enjoyed any Call of Duty game since World at War you are going to love this. Easily the best multiplayer I’ve experienced in years along with a strikingly unique single player campaign plus a bucket load of extras and a massive community to enjoy it with.
With numbers like that behind it, it also means that the Call of Duty franchise isn’t exactly ready to throw in the towel just yet.
Last Updated: January 15, 2016
HairyEwok
January 15, 2016 at 08:15
Whaaaaat, and here I thought the Witcher 3 sold the most since it’s GOTY. Just goes to show the power of a fan horde wins every time.
Jan Prins
January 15, 2016 at 08:23
GOTY is kinda like the Oscars. The critics have their darlings but the ‘popcorn’ flick makes the most moola.
Hammersteyn
January 15, 2016 at 08:24
Just ask Michael Bay
Jan Prins
January 15, 2016 at 08:42
Keep this in mind: It could have been Uwe Boll
Ir0nseraph
January 15, 2016 at 08:21
Can’t say I am surprised, the force is just to strong with the CoD franchise.
But when will digital sales numbers join the fray ? , 70% of the games i bought 2015 was digital, this needs fixing.
Hammersteyn
January 15, 2016 at 08:22
In the header she’s entertained by Freddie Mercury about as much as I was with this game.
Ir0nseraph
January 15, 2016 at 08:24
XD yeah well that’s what you get when you are supposed to wait for your friends and you go and do all alone.
Hammersteyn
January 15, 2016 at 08:24
I refused to stop playing 😛
Ir0nseraph
January 15, 2016 at 08:34
The question is why you could not stop , was it because the game is good, or everyday you didn’t finish it you watched the trade value drop ?
Hammersteyn
January 15, 2016 at 09:10
The latter. I found the PVP monotonous but playing bots was fun.
Guild
January 15, 2016 at 09:46
PVP was monotonous but playing the bots was fun? What you smoking budd? Playing bots is boring, playing against others is way more entertaining
Hammersteyn
January 15, 2016 at 09:54
Maybe if I actually smoked something I’d enjoy it more. I dunno. It’s just not meant for me I guess.
https://media.giphy.com/media/JwChDcePvyV4A/giphy.gif
Jan Prins
January 15, 2016 at 08:24
Call of Cha-Ching!
VampyreSquirrel
January 15, 2016 at 08:38
LOL! That tag “We are the champions… of your face”
Alien Emperor Trevor
January 15, 2016 at 09:09
Last night, for the first time EVER, I saw one guy teabagging another guy in Warframe. And it wasn’t even in PVP.
VampyreSquirrel
January 15, 2016 at 09:25
LMAO! I’ve never seen it done either… was it Otto teabagging Admiral?
Alien Emperor Trevor
January 15, 2016 at 09:50
No, it was a random alert. Guy went down, I was busy reviving him, and another dude comes over and tea bags.
Now I know exactly how Ronan the Accuser felt at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy. “……..what are you doing?”
VampyreSquirrel
January 15, 2016 at 09:55
HAHAHAHA
Loftus
January 15, 2016 at 08:53
The Call of keeping money in my wallet is stronger than the Call of Duty
Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)
January 15, 2016 at 11:35
TRANSLATION: Since 2007, the duty of Gamers has been to help Bobby Kotick buy a new Bugatti every year!