Most of us knew that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 would be one of the biggest games of the year, but it’s so big that it’s doing a lot to boost games sales across the U.S.
This information comes from Circana (formerly NPD Group), which publishes a monthly report on U.S. video game spending. According to analyst Mat Piscatella, spending on hardware, software, and accessories was up 10% in October compared to the same time last year, and the spike was “primarily” driven by the release of Black Ops 6. Non-mobile video game subscription service spending was also up by 16%.
“The increase was driven primarily by the debut of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 in October, as compared to the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023) during the November tracking period a year ago,” Piscatella wrote in a thread on Bluesky. As for subscription services, “the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 as part of Xbox Game Pass was the primary growth driver.”
In general, video game content spending (so players purchasing games, DLC, and other software) is up 12% compared to a year ago, while hardware statistics continue to drop. Even compared to other titles that came out this year, Black Ops 6 has been massive for Activision. It was the top-selling game from October, but is also the third best-selling premium game of 2024, only currently behind EA Sports College Football 25 and Helldivers 2.
The anticipation was high for Black Ops 6, even compared to other Call of Duty games. Not only did it see a return to the Black Ops series, but it was also the first series title to be available through Xbox Game Pass. So, Ultimate subscribers could get access technically for free. What industry experts are keeping an eye on is whether this will increase Xbox Game Pass subscriptions permanently or whether they’ll drop off over time. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella did say during a recent earnings call that the game broke records “for day one players, as well as Game Pass subscriber adds on launch day,”
However, Black Ops 6 is still selling well on PlayStation. Piscatella reports that 82% of Black Ops 6 spending is on PlayStation, although this is very much due to Game Pass.
“Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 to Game Pass did a few things in the U.S.,” Piscatella wrote in another post. “It resulted in a subscription spending boost, shifted share of full game sales to PlayStation, did not appear to result in massive cannibalization of sales, and did not appear to provide a significant boost to Xbox Series hardware. So, all the open questions regarding the impact of subscriptions are still pretty open.”
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.