Microsoft boss Satya Nadella called last week’s launch of Black Ops 6 “the biggest Call of Duty release in history” and said its arrival set a record for “game pass subscribers on launch day.” Ta.
News of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s success was announced during Microsoft’s 2025 Q1 financial earnings report, where the company once again recorded a notable 43% year-over-year increase in gaming revenue. This is in line with a 61% year-over-year increase in Xbox content and services revenue, with growth primarily due to Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. In contrast, the company’s Xbox hardware revenue continues to decline, this time by 29% year over year.
Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard also helped provide better news for investors, thanks to the recent arrival of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. In opening weekend numbers, physical sales for Black Ops 6 in the UK were down 10% compared to Modern Warfare 3, likely due to its first day appearance on Game Pass, and due to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella trumpeted the launch of Black Ops 6 during today’s earnings call. Ops 6 is “the biggest Call of Duty release ever.”
Nadella did not provide specific numbers to illustrate his point, but noted that the launch of Black Ops 6 set “records for first-day players and first-day Game Pass subscribers.” This Game Pass metric was already made public last year when Nadella announced that Bethesda’s Starfield “set a record for the most Game Pass subscriptions added in a single day,” and Black Ops 6’s It has been shown that the numbers are higher. These numbers are proving to be good enough for Microsoft, considering the launch of Game Pass for Black Ops 6 will be a key test for its subscription services strategy following the Activision Blizzard acquisition.
Nadella also noted that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s opening weekend attracted more PC players than any other game in the series’ history, with unit sales on PlayStation and Steam reportedly up 60% year over year. I made it clear. Black Ops 6 developer Treyarch reiterated many of Nadella’s record-setting claims in a message shared on social media, stating that Black Ops 6 had a total player count, play time, and total play time over its opening three-day weekend. He added that the number of matches was the best. In the history of Call of Duty.
But what happened to the critics? Eurogamer’s Chris Tapsell shared his thoughts on Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s “nonsense but surprisingly intimate” campaign earlier this week, calling it “a return to form for the series. A mix of the usual slightly unpleasant real-world set dressing and cracking action, horror twists, and ironic charm. ” A verdict on Black Ops 6’s multiplayer component will be rendered at a later date.
