Call of Duty might be Xbox's savior in 2024

"The business isn't how many consoles you sell," said Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer on Xbox five years ago. But now, it looks like the declining hardware and software performance has forced Microsoft to make big decisions, and those have surely not benefited the devs. Amid the layoffs, studios getting shut down, and underperformance of the in-house titles, Call of Duty seems to be the only hope for Xbox in 2024. But how?

Since last year or so, first-party Xbox offerings haven't delivered the expected results for Microsoft in generating huge profits. The only increase in revenue recently has been due to Activision Blizzard's catalog of games, mainly driven by solid Call of Duty sales.

Note: Several aspects of this article are speculative and solely reflect the writer's opinions.

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Microsoft's Xbox business isn't likely to grow much without Call of Duty in 2024

Call of Duty will determine whether Microsoft will end this year on a high or not (Image via Activision)

Taking the report from The Verge into consideration, it won't be an exaggeration to say that Call of Duty will likely be the savior for Xbox in 2024, provided the next FPS premium from Treyarch, the rumored Black Ops 6, delivers on all fronts. The Call of Duty brand is so massive that any new installment arriving in this franchise always manages to sell very well.

However, that's not been the broad case for Xbox in the last few years. The saving grace for Microsoft this year has been the CoD series' sales performance after closing the $68.7 billion deal with Activision in October 2023. On the other hand, Xbox services, including the Game Pass subscription platform and the monthly collection of games it offers, have failed to attract players' attention.

The Game Pass service model hasn't really boosted the growth for Microsoft yet (Image via Microsoft)

Moreover, the hardware sales have been underwhelming as well, to say the least. After 2022, the console has witnessed a decline in demand. Microsoft CFO Amy Hood recently revealed that hardware revenue for the device is expected to fall again in the next quarter.

Microsoft will hope that the games coming out in the remainder of 2024 are positively received by fans. This month will see the debut of Senua's Saga Hellblade II, while the coming months will see releases like Awoved, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and Indiana Jones. However, Microsoft needs a massive shot in the arm right now - the next Call of Duty can make it happen with its sales numbers post-launch to drive the company's expectations for a big jump.

CoD 2024 is set for a full reveal by Activision next during Microsoft's event on June 9 (Image via Activision)

Now that it's got possibly the biggest first-person shooter IP under its roof, the team will hope to see a smash hit in CoD 2024 Zombies. In case of a record-breaking success, Microsoft will be able to regain some of the lost trust from players and gaming enthusiasts who are surely not happy right now with the way employees have been laid off and small studios are getting shut to cut costs.

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For more news and the latest updates on Call of Duty and Xbox, keep following Sportskeeda.

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