How Call of Duty's astronomical revenues is the driving force for Xbox to keep the franchise multiplatform

Call of Duty will be a gold mine for Xbox if the deal with Activision Blizzard is completed. Ever since the first announcement, the gaming community has been abuzz with speculations of all kinds. Despite the early green light from several monitoring bodies, the deal is far from complete. One major discussion has always been the potential for the franchise to be a console-exclusive. However, a very strong point of the franchise could force Microsoft to ensure that the game is available on as many platforms as possible.

Call of Duty has been a major name in gaming, with the military-shooter title growing rapidly ever since its inception. Reportedly, it has crossed a revenue figure of $30 billion, which is truly staggering. Moreover, these numbers continue to grow. Even when Vanguard failed to capture the stage, according to Activision, their financial success hasn't lagged behind. Finances will be a key factor that Xbox will look to, and it is the deciding factor that could keep the franchise multiplatform.

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The financial success of the Call of Duty franchise could be a major boost for Xbox

The potential deal between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard will be one of the largest commercial deals in the world. It's estimated that the potential deal has a value of nearly $70 billion, which could be a massive boost for Xbox.

As part of the deal, Microsoft will gain control of some extremely valuable franchises, with the biggest one being the Call of Duty series. There are several titles on offer, including several live-service titles. This has resulted in Activision Blizzard gaining massive profits, and it's all set to increase with several projects in the pipeline.

A key discussion has always been around the chance for the franchise to be made a console exclusive. Earlier, Microsoft completed the acquisition of Bethesda. Upcoming releases like Starfield and Redfall will be exclusive to Xbox, and it's expected that all future releases from Bethesda will follow this trend on consoles.

The key difference in the case of Call of Duty comes from the nature of the games and how they make money. When someone talks about Starfield or Redfall, they are games that are not based around live service. These will mostly be titles that players pay a premium to access, complete, and then move on. This might not be true in the case of Starfield, but it will likely be a game where players can play at their own pace.

The lion's share of revenue comes from military shooters in the form of monetizations. Players invest plenty of money from premium passes to bundles to customize their characters and accelerate their in-game progress. Obviously, this excludes the amount that players pay to buy the game in the first place.

With Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2 in development, the potential profit for Xbox increases manifold if it allows the games to be available on multiple platforms. The chances that a gamer will buy a new console based purely on the availability of a single game seems quite unlikely. Instead, Microsoft could lose billions in revenue if it restricts the popular franchise to only PlayStation players.

Microsoft has also focused massively on expanding the Xbox Game Pass, and its value is unlikely to be reduced. If anything, adding the Call of Duty franchise to the service will make it even more lucrative as fans will have a huge option of games to choose from. What will likely ensue is more subscriptions and greater profits for the company.

Call of Duty will continue to be a multiplatform well beyond the next few games as things stand. However, this situation could always change in the competitive world of the video games industry, so that nothing can be ruled out at this point.