- Call of Duty saw a massive decrease in playtime and revenue on all platforms in 2025.
- The franchise’s revenue dropped by almost 65% on PC, while the PlayStation edition resulted in 43% less profit.
- On the other hand, playtime dropped by 60% on PC while also taking hits on Xbox and PlayStation.
2025 was not the best year for the Call of Duty franchise. Thanks to competition from shooting franchises like Battlefield, the gaming behemoth lost millions in sales, with Black Ops 7 getting a 50% discount only a month after release.
Furthermore, the Xbox Game Pass has also cut into Call of Duty sales, with analysts saying that the service has cannibalised over $300 million in unit sales from the franchise. Now, a new report suggests that the IP struggled substantially on all platforms last year, dropping in both playtime and revenue.
Why it matters: Microsoft and Activision need to realize that players won’t settle for a lack of effort and creativity in Call of Duty anymore, as the industry has a lot of other titles to offer.
According to research from Newzoo, Call of Duty declined by a huge margin in both Platytime and revenue on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation in 2025. The steepest drop is visible on the PC charts, with the franchise amassing 59.4% less playtime as compared to 2024.
Call of Duty revenue took an even bigger hit on the platform, falling by 64.3% year-on-year after peaking in 2024. Xbox and PlayStation users were also not keen on purchasing the FPS title this time around, with playtime on the consoles dropping by 29.6% and 25.5%, respectively.
The decline in Xbox gameplay hours could be because Call of Duty is not part of the Standard Game Pass tier. However, that did not help with revenue, as it still decreased by 39.1% on Xbox devices while falling by a whopping 42.8% on PlayStation.
When you take the dire state of the franchise into account, reports that Xbox is removing Call of Duty from Game Pass start to make sense. Of course, Battlefield taking players away due to its success also played a part.
But the Activision IP will not see a resurgence until players find a compelling incentive to return in the ever-challenging AAA climate.
Do you think Call of Duty can come back from the abysmal 2025 it had? Tell us in the comments below or head to the Tech4Gamers forum for discussion.
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Shameer Sarfaraz has previously worked for eXputer as a Senior News Writer for several years. Now with Tech4Gamers, he loves to devoutly keep up with the latest gaming and entertainment industries. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and years of experience reporting on games. Besides his passion for breaking news stories, Shahmeer loves spending his leisure time farming away in Stardew Valley. VGC, IGN, GameSpot, Game Rant, TheGamer, GamingBolt, The Verge, NME, Metro, Dot Esports, GameByte, Kotaku Australia, PC Gamer, and more have cited his articles.
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