Call of Duty is one of the most popular video game franchises of all time, and while most people will argue that it has fallen off, it still enjoys a sizeable portion of the market for FPS titles. The video game series jumped further up the relevance pyramid after 2019’s Modern Warfare.
GTA 5 is another title that was immensely popular and generated much hype when released. Both titles were relevant even till 2023, but the former beat the latter in a sales metric that may shock many.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare (2019)’s Shocking Win Over Grand Theft Auto 5
When 2019’s Modern Warfare reboot was announced, the hype surrounding it was almost infectious, with many people waiting for the novel to take on some of the most iconic characters in the video game series.
As per Circana, a company specializing in extrapolating insights from sales data, In 6 years ending in December 2023, the 2019 Call of Duty title also made the most amount of dollars, i.e., net sales. While that may sound like an impressive win, Rockstar Games scored a win for themselves with Grand Theft Auto 5 in the same period.
This was shared on X by Mat Piscatella, the Executive Director and Video Games Advisor for Circana:
According to Circana's Retail Tracking Service, Red Dead Redemption 2 ranked #2 in both units and dollars for the 6-year period ending December 2023.
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) May 16, 2024
#1 in Units over that period was… Grand Theft Auto V. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) ranked 1st in dollars. pic.twitter.com/77nSSEJTDa
Despite first coming out in 2013 for the seventh generation of consoles, in late 2014 for the eighth generation, and in 2015 for PC and subsequently for the ninth generation of consoles. It even outsold Activision’s shooter in terms of units, which is enormous considering the number of years it has been around.
The Most Significant Factor for GTA 5’s Long-Term Dominance and Its Victory Over Call of Duty’s 2019 Title
GTA 5 had one of the best single-player campaigns among many games released around the same time and was subjected to much hype. Hype dies down eventually, and single-player campaigns do not make for good user retention.
That is where the game’s multiplayer mode became one of its best offerings. Despite the criticism it received from some people, it was a huge step up from the previous title and upped the ante for multiplayer video games, especially in the open-world genre.
It had several game modes and tonnes of replayability and was also a significant contributor to the title’s success. The ability to buy in-game currency to buy in-game assets like properties and vehicles shot up Rockstar Games’ microtransaction revenue. PC-only modes such as FiveMP, a roleplay mod, became instant hits to the extent that Rock acquired the mod maker.
This cold mean that GTA 6 will most likely feature roleplay multiplayer game mode and benefit from the acquisition. What is your favorite activity to partake in GTA Online? And what features would you like to see in GTA 6? Let us know in the comment section below!
