Call of Duty has crossed another huge commercial line. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said on X that the series has now earned more than $40 billion in lifetime franchise revenue, as Inven Global reports.
“One of the most celebrated Call of Duty games in its 24-year history, and now $40B in lifetime franchise revenue. An incredible milestone. Congrats to the Activision team,” Sharma wrote. “And to the players, thank you for being with us.” The post came with a graphic highlighting review scores for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4.
Sharma did not break the number down. She did not say how much came from game sales versus in-game purchases, over what period it was counted, or how much the new game has contributed since launch.
Even so, the figure puts Call of Duty among the most lucrative entertainment franchises of any kind. As PC Gamer points out, the series has been a near-annual fixture for more than two decades, and its yearly releases, free-to-play Warzone and paid seasonal content have kept the money flowing.
The milestone lands at a good moment for Activision. Modern Warfare 4 went live on Oct. 23, a week after campaign early access opened, and the official Call of Duty account says the game holds Metacritic scores of 89 on PlayStation and 86 on PC. The game is split into a story campaign, multiplayer and the DMZ mode.
Activision has been busy with updates since launch, including adding DMA detection to its Ricochet anti-cheat tools to catch hardware-based cheats. PC players need TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot enabled to play online, and the classic Shipment map arrived on Oct. 27.
For Microsoft, which bought Activision Blizzard in 2023 and now runs it inside Xbox, the number is a reminder of why the deal mattered. The game is also still drawing attention for extras such as the Code of Valor pack honoring Kyle Carpenter, and the next test will be how well it holds players once GTA 6 arrives in November.
