Call of Duty was the best-selling franchise globally in 2016

It appears that Activision’s Call of Duty series had a very good 2016.

The publisher has confirmed the news that not only was Infinite Warfare last year’s best-selling game in the US, but that Call of Duty was the best-selling franchise globally for the year.

It is the seventh time in the last eight years that the Call of Duty franchise has topped the yearly global charts, Activision said, and the eighth in a row for the US listings.

Based on recent reports by US games trade body the ESA and market tracker NPD, the publisher has announced that the franchise was No.1 worldwide in terms of revenue. This doesn’t only include the most recent instalment in the series, Infinite Warfare, but also 2015’s Black Ops III, which continued to sell very well throughout 2016.

Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg commented: Call of Duty is the #1 console franchise worldwide in 2016. We’re thankful to our players for once again putting Call of Duty on top, and we recognize how rare this is – to do year after year. That’s why we push to deliver innovations and incredible gameplay that are worthy of the best fans in the world time and again. And we have an exciting year ahead in 2017.”

Activision made a similar statement last year, announcing that Black Ops III was the best selling title worldwide in 2015. At that time, the franchise reached the 250m units sold. Infinite Warfare has failed to perform as well as its predecessor though, with sales nearly down 50 per cent at launch in the UK compared to Black Ops III.

The ESA and NPD reports also pointed out that the US market was slightly on the rise last year, with $30.4bn generated in revenue.