There was a time earlier this year when Activision’s top brass went on the record with concern over Call of Duty: Ghosts not selling well. At the time, their concerns were tied to gamers’ indecision about whether to switch from the then-current-gen consoles to the next-gen Xbox One and PlayStation 4. With the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 now having sold more than one million units each, that indecision has been laid to rest. So, too, has Activision’s concern over Call of Duty: Ghosts sales results.
According to sales data from both consoles’ launches, Call of Duty: Ghosts was the top-selling game on the Xbox One, as well as the PlayStation 4. COD: Ghosts is also the top-selling stand-alone Xbox One game in the United Kingdom, and it’s been the most-played multiplayer game on both the Xbox One and PS4 platforms (via Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, respectively).
Activision sent out the news, but it wasn’t just PR fluffery. The metrics were in fact data points that came directly from retailers and manufacturers alike. Ghosts is the most-played Xbox One multiplayer game worldwide, according to Microsoft, and it’s the top-selling Xbox One title in North America based on data from Best Buy, GameStop, Target and Walmart. The UK figure is based on metrics from GfK Charttrack.
As for the PS4 info, Call of Duty: Ghosts can claim the title as most-played PS4 game based on data from Sony Computer Entertainment America, and retail sales figures from Best Buy, GameStop, Target and Walmart show that COD: Ghosts is the top-selling PS4 title in North America.
Interestingly, in addition to being the top Xbox One multiplayer game, Call of Duty: Ghosts is also currently the most-played Xbox 360 multiplayer game, according to Microsoft. More than 1 billion multiplayer matches of Call of Duty: Ghosts already have been played across all versions. Ghosts’ players have Prestiged more than 2.2 million times, earning over 3.3 trillion Experience Points (XP), according to gameplay statistics from Activision.
No doubt the chart-busting data from Ghosts is tied at least somewhat to the Battlefield 4 network errors on Xbox One. Electronic Arts’ seminal Battlefield series is traditionally COD’s biggest rival, and the latest versions of both games have upheld that tradition. But wherever technical issues befall an online multiplayer game, people are bound to gravitate — at least temporarily — to the nearest competition. In this case, some launch-console gamers may have picked up Call of Duty: Ghosts instead of BF4 until DICE irons out all the issues with their latest Battlefield game.
EA will need to solve those issues in a hurry, though, as a recent GameStop holiday survey of 1,000 PowerUp Rewards members and 500 general gift-givers showed Call of Duty: Ghosts is the most-desired video game this holiday season.