For the third month in a row, since it was released November 2020, Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War was North America’s bestselling title for January 2021. Such success only strengthens Call of Duty’s dominion as a whole. Last year, just a few weeks after the new installment’s arrival, publisher Activision Blizzard revealed that its flagship series had accumulated $3 billion in just a 12-month time period.
Profitability on this level was owed not only to Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War’s massive success, but also the releases of Call of Duty Warzone and Call of Duty Mobile. Licensing and merchandise were critical pieces of the equation as well, the publisher unveiled in a press release.
Jan 2021 US NPD THREAD – January 2021 consumer spending across video game hardware, content and accessories achieved a January record $4.7B, 42% higher when compared to a year ago. Gains were achieved across all spending categories. pic.twitter.com/SMfkfScsMs
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) February 12, 2021
However, strong profits do not necessarily mean happy customers. Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War and Warzone, in particular, have been the result of much controversy for the last couple of months. Notably, not everyone is satisfied with the integration of the two games. Additionally, a number of premium skin-related bugs in Warzone continues to raise concerns about possible pay-to-win elements.
NPD analyst Mat Piscatella posted data that reveal Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War ranked as the bestselling game in the US in January, meaning it managed to top the charts for a third successive month since its release.
A consequent post in his Twitter account yet another amazing bit of sales data – Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War is now the 20th bestselling title in US history. It’s a remarkable achievement considering the game has only been on the market for a couple of months.
US NPD HW – PlayStation 5 was the best-selling hardware platform in dollars sold in January, with the highest dollar sales total for a January month since the Nintendo Wii in January 2009.
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) February 12, 2021
Certainly, this year is shaping up to be yet another good year for publisher Activision Blizzard and the content rollout for Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War is just getting started. A free zombies update was released a few weeks ago, adding the much-awaited Firebase Z map.
Dead Ops Arcade Solo Advanced Star, a new game mode, was also included in the new zombies update as well. This jam-packed content launch further brought back Call of Duty Black Ops 2’s Tombstone Soda perk, which is available on both Die Maschine map and Firebase Z maps.
Though Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War has not quite reached its stride, speculations are already spreading about what the new Call of Duty entry will bring. A trustworthy leaker recently revealed that Sledgehammer Games will be leading the development of this year’s adventure in the series. With both WWII and Advanced Warfare under its belt, there is no guessing what a new Sledgehammer-made Call of Duty game could bring to the table.
