Analyst: Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 sales will drop by millions due to Game Pass

Analysts decided to speak out about how the addition of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 to Game Pass will affect subscriptions. The shooter will appear in the Ultimate and PC bundle libraries from the moment of release on October 25. By the way, the game is already available in New Zealand.

According to analysts, Game Pass's audience will grow by “millions” of users. However, real success or lack thereof will only be known later. Subscriptions will be able to retain players beyond just Black Ops 6's story campaign and multiplayer.

Regarding the sales of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, the head of Wedbush has some bad news. Activision may not reach six million copies sold even if 25% of players who try the shooter on Game Pass buy it forever. The balance will be balanced by the fact that three to four million people will use the subscription continuously.

But analytics agency Ampere believes the number of Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will only increase by 2.5 million. Furthermore, “a significant portion” of them will simply increase the Standard tariff to new heights.

Adding Black Ops 6 to Game Pass would be “expensive” for Microsoft, which owns Activision Blizzard. However, a company can find a balance.

Call of Duty has become a service game with constant updates and microtransactions, the revenue share from which could increase due to a wider audience. However, it is unclear how this will affect the shooter's earnings – it could become more aggressive.

Newzoo concluded that in the long term, the Call of Duty audience on PlayStation consoles is unlikely to decline sharply. Due to cross-platform functionality and a single Activision account, players will be able to play premium releases like Black Ops 6 on PC or Xbox with Game Pass and enjoy Call of Duty: Warzone for free on their devices. suffered from Sony. However, this approach will negatively affect sales of new games in the series.

Ultimately, representatives from various analytics firms agreed that the success of adding Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 to Game Pass will be seen going forward. Microsoft must retain new audiences, but if the corporation fails to achieve its goals, the situation could become “very grim.”

Western publications GamesIndustry.biz and IGN also conducted a reader survey. It turns out that 70% of the people who will play Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 are subscribed to Game Pass – they will try the shooter through it. And 8% of respondents will become Game Pass subscribers precisely because of the upcoming new product. The rest will buy the game. Among the latter, there may be a significant portion of PlayStation players who will not be able to play Black Ops 6 through Game Pass.

Let us remind you that immediately after the release on PC, PlayStation and Xbox, the first season of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will begin on November 14. The developers also wanted to seriously update the possibilities anti-fraud protection.