Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has landed on Game Pass, causing a stir among Xbox users with an uptick in activity, while PS5 players also saw increased engagement.
Mat Piscatella, from Circana, shared that on October 28, the Call of Duty HQ app—featuring Black Ops 6, Warzone, and Modern Warfare III—was played by 52% of active Xbox Series X|S users and 34% of PS5 players. Just five days earlier, those numbers were 19% for Xbox and 18% for PlayStation. This surge marked a record high in player activity on both consoles, according to Piscatella’s Player Engagement Tracker.
Before this, the highest US daily player activity for Call of Duty HQ was 34% on Xbox Series X|S on August 31, 2024, and 27% on PS5 on September 7, 2024. Piscatella thinks this could mean Game Pass helped boost Xbox engagement without hurting other platforms. But he wants more info before making any big conclusions. “And btw… over HALF of all daily active players on a platform playing one game [Call of Duty HQ] is bonkers engagement,” he added.
Microsoft and Activision have celebrated Black Ops 6’s “biggest” three-day launch in franchise history, with record numbers of players, hours played, and matches. Activision also proudly announced they’ve sold over 500 million Call of Duty games. During a recent earnings call, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella mentioned that Black Ops 6’s release broke records for new Game Pass subscribers on its launch day, though he didn’t give exact numbers. He noted sales on PlayStation and Steam shot up “over 60% year-over-year” compared to last year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III.
Fans are really into this game!
Excitingly, Black Ops 6 will get even more thrilling with Nuketown, a much-loved multiplayer map, launching on November 1. Then, on November 14, Black Ops 6 Season 1 kicks off, introducing a fresh Call of Duty: Warzone map called Area 99.
