Call of Duty: Vanguard reportedly sold over 30m copies

Call of Duty: Vanguard sold over 30m copies.

That's according to the LinkedIn profile of a strategic consultant working with Roughmint Consulting who – as part of their role as a “social media strategist” for Activision – helped “to co-develop strategy designed to acquire new players for FPS Call of Duty Vanguard, selling 30 million copies” .

“People forget that those commenting on the internet are, for the most part, a very self-similar echo-choir,” said one Redditor, responding to surprise that the 2021 game sold as well as it did, despite a disappointing critical and user reception.

“No such thing as a down year for CoD,” opined anotheras other commenters detailed their disappointment with the level design, progression system, and more.

“Absurd really,” added Smash Bros Melee. “There's so much discussion about online gaming but it's easy to forget how small of a percentage of the current game-buying public follows industry news and plays what the hardcore gamer would consider major tentpole releases. A lot of PS5s and Xbox Series are Warzone/ Fortnite/streaming app boxes.

“In reality, a lot of people just buy the new CoD game and sports game of their choice (EAFC/Madden/2K) every year, GTA when a new one releases, and maybe Mario Kart and Smash Bros to play with friends.”

Of course, without formal confirmation from Activision or parent company Microsoft, for all we know, this could be an inflated or completely artificial figure. Either way, it's got a lot of shooter fans reflecting on Vanguard's success and the impact these kinds of sales have on the franchise, not least because Activision itself admitted that the game had underperformed.

As for what's next for Call of Duty? Well, according to a new report we'll find out the release dates for Flight Simulator 2024, Avowed, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and this year's Call of Duty at the Xbox Summer Showcase, rumored to be happening on 9th June 2024.