Activision’s hit Call of Duty franchise has not been wanting for hits in terms of sales. However, this is a huge feather in the game series’ cap, putting it in the top echelon of all video games ever produced. This news comes from the NPD Group. Previously known as NPD Research Inc., the NPD Group is a market research company that keeps track of consumer behavior and statistics from about 300,000 stores across the United States. Mat Piscatella, Executive director of the NPD Group, posted the details on Twitter. According to Piscatella, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has had continuous stellar sales since its launch last November 2020. The game has been hitting the number 1 spot for 3 months straight. By January 2021, Activision’s latest entry hit benchmark charted sales. In terms of volume and total retail movement, the game is ranked at number 20 of the best-selling video games in U.S. history.
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) February 12, 2021 But does not mean the game, as whole, has not had its detractors. While the Call of Duty series has always had amazing sales numbers, the Black Ops Cold War entry has had some issues. Players have complained about premium skins causing bugs during gameplay. There has also been some annoyance express at the move to combine elements of both Modern Warfare and Black Ops Cold War, together with the popular battle royale Warzone service. Activision has heavily promoted this integration, but there are unresolved technical problems. However, despite these issues, the game has continued to be successful in bringing in new players. While Warzone may have been a significant factor to producing the numbers, it cannot be said that Activision is resting on its laurels. Recently, zombies were added to the gameplay, which is always a popular variation to multiplayer FPS. A new mode Dead Ops Arcade Solo Advanced Star has also been added with the zombies update. One caveat of this development is that the numbers may be skewed by the COVID pandemic. This is also limited to the United States market, and does not account for global sales. Regardless, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s entry into the bestselling U.S. list video games of all time is nothing short of impressive. With news that Sledgehammer Games is coming back this year as the lead developers for the next Call of Duty installments, things are looking even better. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is currently available on the Playstation 4 and Playstation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X, and Windows PC platforms.
