LogInThe question remains, has their marketing budget surpassed the development budget?
Activision
If you were wondering why, despite Modern Warfare III's poor ratings and many gamers believing that 26 games in, the Call of Duty series has long overstayed its welcome and turned into the game industry's prime example of a soulless cash cow, you still see the new Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 promoted everywhere, you'd be pleased to know the real reason has been revealed – and it's not because everyone but you loves CoD.
In a recent interview with Variety, Activision's Chief Marketing Officer Tyler Bahl revealed that BO6's marketing budget is comparable to any "major motion picture blockbuster that would be launching this year." While the exact figure wasn't revealed, Wikipedia tells me that 2024's most popular and highest-grossing films had budgets in the $150-200 million range, likely placing Black Ops 6's marketing spending within that ballpark.
"Obviously, we want to generate sales, but I think overall, just awareness of the new game coming out," Bahl explained. "That's always a focus, making 'Black Ops 6' the No.1 game this fall. Overall, I just want people to like the campaign and the work that we're doing as marketing group.
I think some of the work is really innovative. Like we're not just making a spot, the Replacer is showing up in all these weird and different places that are truly exciting. That's what gets me excited, when he's on 'Monday Night Football' and he's doing something with Scott Van Pelt. Obviously, there's hard metrics, but the litmus test for me is when we entered the cultural zeitgeist. That's when we see true success."
The question that remains, however, is whether, following Microsoft's acquisition of Activision and the latter gaining access to the former's infinite money cheat codes, the Call of Duty development budget has also increased, or if Activision has gone the full "Coca-Cola route" and is now spending more on marketing than on actual production. It would be easier to answer if we knew the budget for Modern Warfare III, but reports on that vary, with some suggesting that the studio invested a staggering $1 billion into MWIII, so for now, that matter remains shrouded in mystery.
In other news, recently it was revealed that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is shipping with built-in support for a third-party audio tool, which many fans are labeling a "pay-to-win crutch" because of its ability to improve your in-game hearing for a modest sum of $20, a feature that is definitely questionable in a competitive first-person shooter.
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