Call Of Duty effect on Game Pass was tiny reveals new Xbox sales infoGameCentralPublished January 30, 2025 10:44amUpdated January 30, 2025 10:44am Call Of Duty hasnt helped Game Pass numbers at all (Microsoft)Microsofts latest financial results reveal that Xbox console sales are down a calamitous 29% over Christmas, with Call Of Duty boosting Game Pass by only a fraction.Just yesterday, Microsoft was revealed to be the biggest video game publisher in the world, primarily indeed, almost solely thanks to Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6, which was the most successful entry in the series so far.You wouldve thought, and certainly it was Microsofts fervent hope, that the fact that Black Ops 6 was available on Game Pass from day one, for no additional cost, wouldve given a major boost to the service.But just as Starfield had little to no affect on Game Pass numbers neither did Black Ops 6, with Microsofts results showing an increase of just 2%. At the same time hardware sales fell by 29% and overall gaming revenue was down 7%, over the vital October to December quarter of last year.Microsofts gaming division which now includes Activision Blizzard and Bethesda made $6.6 billion (5.3bn) in revenue during the last three months, which was down $530 million (426m) on the same time last year.Thats pretty shocking considering 2023s Call Of Duty was the considerably less popular Modern Warfare 3 but the underlying problem is that console sales continue to freefall and without that Microsofts games business is little more than just Activision with a new hat on.Microsoft boss Satya Nadella tried to make the best of the results in the companys earnings call, with some very carefully cherry-picked stats, such as PC Game Pass subscriptions being up 30%.Clearly that had little affect on the overall Game Pass results, with the recent subscription price rises likely meaning that console numbers decreased compared to 2023 although its impossible to know for sure as Microsoft still refuses to provide figures for subscriber numbers or console sales, which tells its own story.However, according to analyst group Ampere, PC subscriptions account for no more than 16% of the total.Nadella also revealed that four million people have played Indiana Jones And The Great Circle since its release in December. However, that figure includes Game Pass players and doesnt indicate how many bought it separately although the games sales will no doubt spike later in the year though, when its released on PlayStation 5.He also stated that Xbox Cloud Gaming saw a record 140 million hours streamed during the quarter, insisting that, We are focused on improving the profitability of the business, in order to position it for long-term growth, driven by higher-margin content and platform services.Nadella didnt address any of the negative sales results or give any indication of what was going to be done about falling console sales and their impact on Game Pass subscriptions. Although its worth noting that the weak console sales results from 2023 are what precipitated the current attempts to embrace multiformat publishing. Game Pass cant grow while console sales plummet (Microsoft)Given how little affect the PC increase had on the overall Game Pass results it suggests that the release of Black Ops 6 had even less influence on Game Pass subscribers than it first seems, which is disastrous news for Microsoft.Call Of Duty was their last card to play, in terms of individual titles that would drastically increase interest in Game Pass, and while they are hoping that its influence will become more obvious in subsequent months theres certainly no sign of it at the moment.The problem, as we outlined in a recent article, is that the majority of Game Pass subscribers are Xbox console owners and with hardware sales bottoming out there is very little capacity for future growth.More TrendingIndeed, subscriber numbers are likely to fall if current Xbox owners abandon the console or switch to the PlayStation 6 in the next generation.Microsoft will no doubt focus more on PC in the future but their emphasis on streaming depends on Wi-Fi infrastructure over which they have no control, making it very difficult to guess when it might become a more mainstream concern.Although the Xbox console business has declined two generations in a row, with the Xbox Series X/S plateauing even more quickly than the Xbox One, Microsoft has no option but to continue to support its hardware business or it will lose the majority of its current Game Pass subscribers.Xbox has already announced a next gen console, amidst constant hints at a portable device, but theres still no clear idea when theyll be released or, more importantly, why Microsoft thinks they will succeed where its last two consoles have failed. Xbox is getting into the handheld business (Valve/Microsoft/Metro)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralSign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy