Michael Pachter: Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Could Add 3M to 4M New Game Pass Subscribers

by
William D’Angelo
, posted 2 days ago / 1,582 Views

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter speaking with GamesIndustry said that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 being a day one release on Xbox Game Pass could add three and four million new subscribers to the service.

He did add that the Call of Duty franchise being on Xbox Game Pass could lead to six million fewer copies sold with the belief that around 25 percent of subscribers may have purchased the game.

“Good overall for Microsoft and for consumers,” said Pachter. “But the headline will say ‘Call of Duty sales are down.'”

Ampere’s chief games analyst Piers Harding-Rolls also told GamesIndustry that he thinks Call of Duty on Xbox Game Pass will increase the number of subscribers by 10 percent and it will result in people upgrading from Game Pass Core and Game Pass Standard to Game Pass Ultimate.

“The removal of the 14-day $1 trial offer is an indication that Microsoft needs to maximise its subscription revenue returns from the introduction of one of gaming’s biggest franchises at launch,” said Harding-Rolls.

“There is no doubt that adding the latest Call of Duty will be expensive, at least initially, for Microsoft. However, Call of Duty is increasingly a live-service game first and foremost that monetises strongly in-game. Microsoft will be trading premium full-game sales in exchange for a bigger audience that can be monetised in-game instead.

“One of the key questions is how this might impact how the game is monetised and whether there is a bigger onus on in-game monetisation compared to previous entries in the franchise. In terms of audience expansion, Xbox and PC are likely to be key growth platforms. Cloud support at launch offers some potential, but I think the Call of Duty streaming opportunity aligns most strongly with playing on TV screens and PC monitors rather than on mobile devices where Call of Duty Mobile and Warzone are already popular.”

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC via Steam and Microsoft Store, and Xbox Game Pass on October 25.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D’Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.