Call of Duty: Vanguard is finally out, and like it or hate it, Call of Duty has a special way of finding itself at the top of the sales charts every year, regardless of how angry the community gets over a particular entry in the franchise. However, Call of Duty: Vanguard might break this trend, selling fewer copies than other Call of Duty games in key markets during its launch window. In this article, we’ll explain what you need to know about Call of Duty: Vanguard sales.
The History of Call of Duty Sales
In the beginning, Call of Duty was just another upstart series that had its fans and its critics and that was that. It took until Modern Warfare 2 for Call of Duty games to really hit the mainstream, with that game selling only over 25 million copies. Later games like Modern Warfare 3 or Black Ops sold over 30 million copies, which remains the series' ceiling to this day.
Until Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty games sold between 5 million and 15 million copies each; from Modern Warfare 2 through Black Ops 3 the games sold between 20 and 30 million copies each; and from Infinite Warfare through Black Ops 4 the games sold, on average, between 10 and 20 million copies each.
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These numbers, everyone should know, aren't completely accurate up to the day, but they do represent the data we have available, as Activision doesn't necessarily want the public to know exactly how well a Call of Duty sells. Nonetheless, the trends are apparent: Call of Duty was a small but popular franchise through Modern Warfare 2 when it exploded, enjoying immense popularity through Black Ops 3. Then, Infinite Warfare, WWII, and Black Ops 4 saw markedly less success than their predecessors but still were successful.
Recent Call of Duty Sales
Everything changed with Modern Warfare 2019 which effectively rebooted the franchise, bringing tons of new features and changes to the series, and sold reportedly over 30 million copies. Once again, data isn't widely available on this, but Modern Warfare 2019 may well be the best-selling Call of Duty ever.
Black Ops Cold War had a terrible launch. While critics generally reviewed the game well, the community was furious on release, mocking the game's technical issues and serious lack of content. However, the game has been regularly updated and its content offering exponentially expanded. Both at launch and over time, how well the game sold might surprise you.
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In the first month, Cold War sold over 5.7 million copies, and Cold War was still the best-selling game of 2020, even with the terrible launch. But since launch, and since much content has been added to the game, it has continued to sell extremely well, making it one of the best-selling games of 2021. We don't have exact numbers here, but it's likely Cold War has sold in the range of Modern Warfare 2019.
Call of Duty: Vanguard Sales Explained
We don't have much information about Vanguard's sales just yet, and even if we had access to all the data available for Vanguard's sales, the game is going to continue selling well throughout its active-support year. However, some data is coming out, and it isn't encouraging.
In the U.K., for the week ending on November 6th, 2021 according to GSD's data, Call of Duty: Vanguard's physical sales dropped 26% over Cold War and digital sales fell 35% over Cold War. This is compared to Cold War's launch, which was especially rocky, while Vanguard launched with 16 6v6 multiplayer maps, a ton of weapons, and lots to grind towards.
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While Vanguard does have much more content than Cold War launched with, it also has its whole own host of technical issues. These issues do include a perpetual inability to fill lobbies, particularly with bigger game modes, which could speak to the sales numbers as well as server instability.
Vanguard also launched during an extraordinarily bad year for Activision which was mired in scandal after scandal vis-a-vis working conditions as well as the treatment of employees at the hands of Activision management. This treatment allegedly resulted in at least one death: An Activision employee reportedly committed suicide as a result of sexual harassment experienced at work.
Plus, Cold War launched closer to the height of the pandemic, and it launched without any seriously major competition, totally unlike Vanguard which is going up against Battlefield 2042 and Halo Infinite. All of this is to say that it seems like Vanguard won't do as well as Cold War or Modern Warfare.
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This makes sense in the context of the community's reaction to Vanguard: Most seem to agree that the game isn't bad, though the campaign doesn't blow many people's minds and the zombies component, at launch, has been a major disappointment. In terms of the multiplayer experience, though, while there are some design choices the community is vocally opposed to, like the way the minimap works without the Radar Perk, and weapon balance is way off, most fans seem to enjoy the game.
However, the serious weapon balance issues, technical frustrations, and lackluster zombies component and campaign all in the context of a setting most gamers wouldn't pick if given the choice all add up to an experience many consider to be somewhat forgettable, somewhat skippable. Not a game to get especially hyped over, unlike a Halo Infinite, and sales seem to be reflecting this.
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