Microsoft boss Satya Nadella called last week Black Ops 6 launches “the biggest release of Call of Duty ever,” claiming its arrival set a record for “Game Pass subscribers added on launch day.”

The news of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 came amid Microsoft’s first quarter fiscal 2025 financial results report, which saw the company once again report notable gains in gaming revenue, up 43% year-on-year. This comes alongside a 61% year-over-year increase in revenue from Xbox content and services, although the growth was primarily the result of Microsoft’s activity. Acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $69 billion. In contrast, the company’s Xbox hardware revenue increased continued to fallthis time by 29 percent over one year.

from Microsoft Activision Blizzard The acquisition also helped provide more good news for investors, thanks to the recent arrival of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. During the opening weekend, the numbers saw Black Ops 6 physical sales drop 10% in UK Compared to Modern Warfare 3, likely due to its day-one appearance on Game Pass, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella trumpeted the launch during an earnings call today, calling Black Ops 6 ” biggest version of Call of Duty ever made.

While Nadella didn’t share specific numbers to illustrate his claims, he also noted that Black Ops 6’s launch set a “record for day one players as well as Game Pass subscriber additions on launch day. This Game Pass metric was already rolled out last year, when Nadella announced the Bethesda launch. Star Field had “set a record for the most Game Pass subscriptions added in a single day”, indicating a higher number of Black Ops 6. Are these numbers proving to be enough for Microsoft, given that the launch of the Game Black Ops 6 Pass marked a critical essay for its subscription services strategy following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, remains to be seen.

Nadella also revealed that Black Ops 6’s launch attracted the highest number of PC players on its opening weekend in the franchise’s history, while unit sales on PlayStation and Steam reportedly increased by 60 % from one year to the next. Black Ops 6 developer Treyarch repeated many of Nadella’s record-breaking claims in a message shared on social networks before adding a few more – adding that Black Ops 6 saw the most players, hours played and matches played in a three-day opening weekend in history from Call of Duty.

But what about the reviews? Eurogamer’s Chris Tapsell shared his thoughts on Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s “absurd, yet surprisingly intimate” campaign earlier this week, call him a “return to form for the series, mixing the usual, slightly unsavory dressing-up of the real world with cracking action, horror twists and ironic charm.” We’ll issue a verdict on the multiplayer component of Black Ops 6 at a later date.