The Call of Duty franchise has now surpassed $40 billion in lifetime franchise revenue in the wake of the launch of its 23rd mainline entry, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, which launched last Friday.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma made the announcement on her X account, posting a graphic showing a bunch of favorable review scores for Modern Warfare 4 with the caption, “One of the most celebrated Call of Duty games in its 24-year history, and now $40B in lifetime franchise revenue. An incredible milestone. Congrats to the Activision team. And to the players, thank you for being with us.”
The staying power of the franchise has been remarkably impressive, even if some years’ releases are more liked by critics and players than other years. The brand-new Modern Warfare 4 seems to be well-received so far; IGN hasn’t finalized its review yet, but reviewer Simon Cardy says, “Modern Warfare 4’s campaign made me feel something for the series again” and “its expansive behind-enemy-lines mission that borrows most of its ideas from the DMZ mode is a real highlight.”
For context, Grand Theft Auto 5 alone has pulled in over $10 billion over the past 13 years, and the imminent GTA 6 is estimated to clear $5.2 billion by the end of its first week on sale.
Call of Duty will soon expand beyond just games, however, as Peter Berg’s Call of Duty movie is due out in theaters on June 30, 2028 and will explore “the cost of war” for its characters.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, and a co-host of Next-Gen Console Watch. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
