Activision has officially confirmed the use of generative AI in its first-person shooter series, Call of Duty.
It was recently revealed in an exclusive episode of the 'Grit' podcast that EA once passed up acquiring Blizzard, Activision, and Call of Duty.
Only a big company that has interest in gaming like Microsoft or Tencent could have acquired Activision. Extremely low interest rates at that time certainly helped.
Not exactly sure that a merger with EA would’ve benefited any of their franchises or gamers. I imagine it would’ve been like the activision blizzard one were each publisher retains their own identity. So Activison-Blizzard-EA. But who knows.
If it was owned by EA, COD could’ve disappeared a looong time ago. They have no clue how to manage franchises.
Microsoft’s 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.
30% increase on PC!
Excellent!
"However, according to analyst group Ampere, PC subscriptions account for no more than 16% of the total."
Of course!
Game Pass see its strongest player base on Xbox consoles! Ultimate Game Pass subscribers accounts for whooping 80% of all Game Pass subscribers!
That´s why we´re so packed full of amazing games this year and beyond!
Can´t wait for my next gen Xbox!
He's doing that on purpose because it makes a certain fanbase mad.
It works like a charm because it just shows they pay attention to Xbox more than PS at times.
@Lightning
Nah it’s more like the squeaky wheels gets the oil. Or, in this case, the loud, obnoxious troll gets the facepalm.
He's whistling while walking through a graveyard at night, pretending not to be terrified. It's really sad.
@Lightning
So when the xbox troll gets caught lying, its because Sony fans are bad and deserve to be lied to. Got it!
@Lightning77
"He's doing that on purpose because it makes a certain fanbase mad"
It's not even a certain fanbase, lets cut the whole fanboy bull s*** man, it's just annoying all around in general.
He's doing it because he actually believes in it and it's super sad.
Failed troll attempt. The dirt that supported the hill you’re dying on was washed away a long time ago.
@Raw you're part of that fanbase. Is it obnoxious it is, but I bet wouldn't keep the same energy if someone was doing that with PS stuff?
Y'all wouldn't.
“@Raw you're part of that fanbase”
Nope, I have and will always call out Sony for their missteps and short-sightedness.
“but I bet wouldn't keep the same energy if someone was doing that with PS stuff?”
Please point me to a PS fan here being that oblivious and obnoxious. Also, show me someone making alt accounts just to constantly troll.
Since you obviously cherry-picked only the positive point in the article, I’ll provide the counterpoint to the debate.
“Microsoft’s 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.”
“But just as Starfield had little to no affect on Game Pass numbers neither did Black Ops 6, with Microsoft’s 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.”
“…the underlying problem is that console sales continue to freefall and without that Microsoft’s 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 company’s earnings call, with some very carefully cherry-picked stats, such as PC Game Pass subscriptions being up 30%.”
“…although it’s impossible to know for sure as Microsoft still refuses to provide figures for subscriber numbers or console sales, which tells its own story.”
“Nadella didn’t 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 it’s worth noting that the weak console sales results from 2023 are what precipitated the current attempts to embrace multiformat publishing.”
“The problem…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.”
Sounds like they may be going the Sega route, to the surprise of no one. Whether or not they keep a console is going to depend on how many of their console owners are subscribing to game pass. If that percentage falls too low compared to PC or Mobile, you can bet that xbox consoles will be gone.
@NotoriousWhiz
I don’t think they will ever stop releasing console xbox but they will focus more and more on monthly subscription service to the demise of consoles.
@S2 what did he lie about exactly?
"Please point me to a PS fan here being that oblivious and obnoxious."
Is this a joke? You really can't see Sony fans being obnoxious? For a while it was Xbox isn't doing anything with the studios they bought, some how expecting large amounts of games 2 years after they acquired those studios, which is brain dead. Xbox financials coming in and they're dead every time. In fact they're dead every 5 seconds despite them making new hardware and has been said countless times has to be a running gag in the PS community at this point. Gamepass is some how is slowing down, or slowly dying also. This is one of the best years for gamepass period. Xbox fans don't buy games despite Halo, FH5, SF and Indi making the sales charts. Something like South of midnight won't chart that's 100% gamepass, Avowed is hard to tell if they'll buy that one, depends on its reception. Hated Xbox games for a forever now but excited for Forza, Gears, Halo now. Which is the biggest lie Sony fans ever told.
That's coming off at the top of my head from Sony fans. I'll say this I've seen you call out Sony when necessary you're one of the better ones I'll give you that.
“You’re one of the better ones”.
You say this like you’re some beacon of bipartisanship
Cheaters were abusing gamepass since gamepass paired pc players against console players.
It was well known what was going on.
This is not a new install base, just a loophole being abused for cheap.
That and there was a reason Microsoft announced no more $1 trials were ending right before launch… for impulse horde purchasing.
The overall attachment rate is what is important to know.. of which is nowhere to found.
"However, according to analyst group Omdia, PC subscriptions account for no more than 16% of the total"
Not many PC subscribers so ouch.
"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 there’s certainly no sign of it at the moment."
Again HUGE loss for Xbox overall. The last card and down across the board for pretty much everything. Crow being served to all the idiots thinking this would work out for Xbox
O please O_O stop hyperbowling and thell the truth for God sake, this is getting old...proof that 80% of GamePass owners have G.P. Ultimate because yiou are sucking it out of your thumb. Is hat was the truth MS would be screaming it from the rooftops...
I mean kinda makes sense. I like CoD, so I paid $70 for it and now I own it. It never once for a second crossed my mind to pay $100 on Gamepass to rent it for a year.
I don't know of anyone who would do that.... pay to rent just one game. Thankfully there are dozens more to make it worthwhile.
A recent YouTube video has revealed how players can check their hidden skill rating in the Call of Duty franchise. Here's how to see yours!
imagine they'd hired an artist to make said loading screen and paid them for it.
i know, its unimaginable
What also puzzles me is how this passed quality checks, that might be even more disconcerting for other matters.
Biggest mystery in gaming solved.
A few months late, eh?