Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 became a record-breaking game with low user retention

It’s been just a month since the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, and the game has already set a record — it not only attracted the maximum number of players in the entire history of the series, but, judging by the leak, became the most profitable game of the publisher Activision.

The information appeared thanks to the profile of the company’s former analyst Rohan Sawant on the LinkedIn platform. The page was soon deleted, but screenshots of the recording spread online. In describing his experience, Sawant indicated that Black Ops 6 is “the most profitable game in the history of Activision.” At the same time, he did not provide specific figures.

Nevertheless, it is known that in 2020, revenue from the previous parts of the series Black Ops 2 and Black Ops 3 was estimated at $ 2.75 billion, which suggests that the new part could exceed this figure.

Activision has not officially confirmed the information yet, but given the high demand for the game, as well as active sales of microtransactions, including in-game skins, events and crossovers with other franchises, Savant’s statement seems plausible.

According to analytics by The Game Business, in March 2025 the number of active players was 20.6 million, which is lower than the figure for March 2024 (20.8 million) and noticeably inferior to March 2023, when the audience reached 22.4 million people. At that time, the game was not yet available in the Game Pass subscription.

Analysts note that such figures may indicate a gradual decline in interest in the franchise in the long term, despite high-profile releases and large-scale marketing campaigns.

Another indicator is the change of leadership between platforms. While Xbox users were the most active at the start of Black Ops 6 sales, by March 2025 PlayStation had taken the lead, taking 33% of the total audience compared to 32.5% for Xbox. This may indicate that even with Game Pass, Microsoft is unable to maintain a stable dominant position.