Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is 2020’s Best-Selling Game Thus Far
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has enjoyed a very good year so far, without any doubt. Despite launching back in late-2019, the game’s 2020 performance has gone from strength to strength, particularly with the recent launch of Call of Duty: Warzone. However, new information indicates that Modern Warfare isn’t merely successful; it’s actually 2020’s best-selling game so far!
Modern Warfare is the Best-Selling Game of 2020 So Far
This new information comes from gaming industry analyst Mat Piscatella, who recently revealed screenshots from the NPD Group’s retail tracking data on Twitter. This data tracks sales of both physical and digital copies of games. The data includes sales on the Nintendo eShop as well as the PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, and Steam, among other sources. What the data shows is that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is the best-selling game of the year so far, with Animal Crossing: Horizons coming in behind it at #2.
According to Piscatella, Modern Warfare’s success is partly due to a rise in sales during March; the same month that Activision launched Call of Duty: Warzone. It was always expected that Warzone would increase Modern Warfare sales; after all, after getting to try the battle royale for free, some new players are more likely to decide to buy the full game. As it turns out, this effect may have had a more pronounced impact than originally anticipated. Call of Duty sales in March 2020 actually set a new all-time high, exceeding those of March 2010; the previous record-holding month for the franchise.
Activision is actually making Modern Warfare multiplayer available to play for free this weekend to all Warzone players. As such, Modern Warfare sales are likely to perform well this month too. (Not to mention that Modern Warfare digital sales are likely to increase somewhat due to the coronavirus quarantine.) Given that a new Call of Duty game is still expected to launch later this year, 2020 could very well end up being a record-breakingly profitable year for Activision.