It’s hardly a secret that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has done well since its release; the game may not have broken as many records as Activision might have wanted at launch, but since then, reports have consistently shown that the game was one of the best-performing titles of the entire year. Now, PlayStation have revealed another success for the latest Call of Duty; that the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare PS4 version was the console’s most-downloaded game of the year… despite the fact that it launched in late October.
Modern Warfare PS4 was the Console’s Most Downloaded Game of 2019
Earlier today, the official PlayStation Blog revealed a chart of the most-downloaded PS4 titles of 2019. That is, games that were downloaded from the PlayStation Store. Of course, this metric does only account for digital sales, but all reports indicate that gamers are increasingly shifting to digital downloads over retail purchases. Given that PS4 is also Call of Duty’s largest market, and the only platform which received exclusive Modern Warfare content, it also represents a very large chunk of the game’s sales.
The newly-revealed chart puts Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in the #1 spot, ahead of both some of 2019’s top releases and titles that enjoy long-term success. In the former category, NBA 2K19 was #3, ahead of NBA 2K20 at #5, while Days Gone took #10. Madden NFL 20 also got the #7 spot; the only other sports title to make the top 10. In the latter camp were several games which are far from new titles, but which consistently get high sales across most platforms; Grand Theft Auto V was #4 on the list, for instance, while the PS4 version of Minecraft was #2. Rainbow Six Siege was listed at #6, Star Wars Battlefront II was #8, and finally, The Division 2 was #9.
It’s definitely notable that Modern Warfare was able to claim the top spot, despite launching towards the end of the year. Days Gone, for example, was one of the blockbuster releases of 2019, and also released in April; six months before Modern Warfare. Yet, it only reached #10, while Modern Warfare PS4 dominated the list. Borderlands 3, which launched two months prior to Modern Warfare and was also a major commercial success, only reached #12. Death Stranding, which launched a couple of weeks after Modern Warfare, failed to make the top 20. All of this speaks to how large an audience the Call of Duty franchise has. (Not to mention how excited many fans were for Modern Warfare in particular.)
How Did Modern Warfare Perform Overall?
At launch, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare certainly performed well, but it wasn’t necessarily record-breaking. The game made over $600 million in just its first three days; no small figure by any metric, even for a massive franchise like Call of Duty. However, it wasn’t the biggest launch that Call of Duty has ever had. Activision did, at the time, highlight five records which the game’s launch broke, but some of these were relatively specific.
It was the biggest ‘PC’ launch of Call of Duty history, for example. It also had the most successful three-day opening for a Call of Duty game ‘during this console generation’. Correlating perhaps with the new PlayStation chart, the game boasted the biggest digital opening of a Call of Duty title. Indeed, it also had the best digital sales on the PS4 of any Call of Duty. (Record which are, admittedly, partly down to the trend of gamers shifting more and more to digital purchases).
On PC, later reports revealed that the game had sold around 4.75 million copies in October alone. Given that the game launched on the 24th, that’s certainly a huge figure. While it was the top-grossing console game in October, however, it only managed to reach #6 on PC, highlighting that while its PC launch was highly successful, the general PC audience does have slightly different priorities to the console audience. (World of Warcraft, thanks to the release of WoW Classic, beat Modern Warfare to take the #5 spot, for example.)
It’s worth noting, however, that while Modern Warfare’s digital launch was highly successful, digital sales for the launch month were down 11% from those of Black Ops 4. A possibly relevant point, though, is that Black Ops 4 did launch slightly earlier in its launch month. Ultimately, it’s hard to know whether this accounts for the discrepancy or not. Black Ops 4 was also highly successful, after all.
So, was 2019 a Record Year for Call of Duty?
While Modern Warfare enjoyed a strong launch, it’s important to note that the game’s performance post-launch has also been incredibly strong. Many major releases see a rapid dropoff of players relatively quickly. After all, active players run out of things to do, or else are lured away by other new releases. However, most likely due to Activision and Infinity Ward’s relentless content release schedule, Modern Warfare has retained a strong player count since launch.
Just two weeks ago, it emerged that the game has become the most-played Call of Duty on the Xbox One and PS4. What this actually means is that in the game’s first 50 days, it has accrued more hours players than any other Call of Duty released on this generation of consoles; a list which includes six other major games. Furthermore, the game also boasts the highest amount of average daily players among that list. This suggests that Activision’s games-as-a-service strategy has been highly successful at retaining players and keeping them engaged over time.
All in all, 2019 was an extremely profitable year for Call of Duty, but only partly due to Modern Warfare. Earlier this week, SuperData’s 2019 Year in Review report revealed that the Call of Duty franchise made a massive $1.13 billion in revenue in 2019; a level of success which is rare to see outside the realms of free-to-play games, mobile titles, and online slots. Modern Warfare was responsible for $647 million of this figure, while $487 million came from Black Ops 4. However, the success of these two games combined certainly resulted in 2019 being one of the most profitable years ever for Call of Duty.