Disclosure of Call of Duty budgets and sales: new data from the court statement

Game File has gained access to a court application filed by Patrick Kelly, who is currently the head of Activision's creative department for the Call of Duty franchise . The document provides interesting information about three games of the series released between 2015 and 2020, including budgets and the number of copies sold.

Budgets and game sales:

• Black Ops III (2015): budget - $450 million, sold - 43 million copies.
• Modern Warfare (2019): budget - $640 million, sold - 41 million copies.
• Black Ops Cold War (2020): budget - $700 million, sold - 30 million copies.

These figures reflect the full cost of creating games, including marketing costs and several years of support.

Context of the case

Kelly 's statement was filed as part of Activision's response to a lawsuit filed in May 2023. The lawsuit concerned the mass shooting that took place in 2022 at Robb Elementary School in Euless, Texas. The tragedy claimed the lives of 19 students and two adults.

The plaintiffs sought to place blame on Instagram (owned by Meta) and Activision's Call of Duty series of games, claiming that the content of these platforms influenced the teenager who committed the attack.

In a statement, Activision denied the allegations, arguing that there was no causal link between their products and the tragic events.