Game spending is up — and you can thank Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Most of us knew that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 would be one of the biggest games of the year, but it’s so big that it’s doing a lot to boost games sales across the U.S.
This information comes from Circana (formerly NPD Group), which publishes a monthly report on U.S. video game spending. According to analyst Mat Piscatella, spending on hardware, software, and accessories was up 10% in October compared to the same time last year, and the spike was “primarily” driven by the release of Black Ops 6. Non-mobile video game subscription service spending was also up by 16%.
“The increase was driven primarily by the debut of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 in October, as compared to the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023) during the November tracking period a year ago,” Piscatella wrote in a thread on Bluesky. As for subscription services, “the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 as part of Xbox Game Pass was the primary growth driver.”
In general, video game content spending (so players purchasing games, DLC, and other software) is up 12% compared to a year ago, while hardware statistics continue to drop. Even compared to other titles that came out this year, Black Ops 6 has been massive for Activision. It was the top-selling game from October, but is also the third best-selling premium game of 2024, only currently behind EA Sports College Football 25 and Helldivers 2.
The anticipation was high for Black Ops 6, even compared to other Call of Duty games. Not only did it see a return to the Black Ops series, but it was also the first series title to be available through Xbox Game Pass. So, Ultimate subscribers could get access technically for free. What industry experts are keeping an eye on is whether this will increase Xbox Game Pass subscriptions permanently or whether they’ll drop off over time. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella did say during a recent earnings call that the game broke records “for day one players, as well as Game Pass subscriber adds on launch day,”
However, Black Ops 6 is still selling well on PlayStation. Piscatella reports that 82% of Black Ops 6 spending is on PlayStation, although this is very much due to Game Pass.
“Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 to Game Pass did a few things in the U.S.,” Piscatella wrote in another post. “It resulted in a subscription spending boost, shifted share of full game sales to PlayStation, did not appear to result in massive cannibalization of sales, and did not appear to provide a significant boost to Xbox Series hardware. So, all the open questions regarding the impact of subscriptions are still pretty open.”
