Black Ops 4 enjoys half a billion dollars opening weekend

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 has sold through copies of the game to the tune of $500 million (£384m) in its first three days on sale, equalling the figures seen with last year’s COD: WWII.

It’s a gigantic amount of money to make from a game in just a few days and sets Treyarch’s latest thwock of the franchise… hammer… in good stead. All the same, it does mean CODBLOPS4’s performance is flat for the same period year-on-year, something Activision is sure to want to improve upon next time around.

True to form, stocks in Activision dropped at most around nine per cent following the news, with the launch sales seen as ‘slow’. When you’re working with huge numbers, it’s never enough.

Still, the Activision press release painted a positive spin on things: “Black Ops 4 is off to a blockbuster start. Our player counts and hours played are up year over year, our viewership on Twitch has set new standards and is showing just how fun Blackout is to play and to watch, and the weekend results yet again put Call of Duty at that highest tier of entertainment,” said Rob Kostich, EVP and GM, Call of Duty, “Our digital sales results have been record-breaking across all platforms, and the overall performance strong. We’re really excited about Black Ops 4’s momentum. There’s much more to come, we’re just getting started.”

Even with the negativity – and initial fear from the markets – the fact remains Black Ops 4 has done brilliantly for the franchise, and Activision, digitally. And even with Red Dead Redemption 2 tantilisingly close, it’s still going to pick up a fair few extra sales as we approach the holiday season.

So don’t shed a tear for Activision just yet. And with that, I’m out – smell you later, friends!