Black Ops 4 Physical Sales Down by 50% Compared to CoD WW2

Call of Duty Black Ops 4‘s physical sales are down by 50 percent compared to last year’s CoD WW2, with Treyarch’s latest entry in the FPS franchise experiencing a dramatic decline in the number of boxed copies it has shifted. The figures, taken from Chart-Track’s UK sales chart, indicate that interest in Black Ops 4 has diminished in the region, despite Activision revealing that it had posted record-breaking digital sales.

In a press release, Activision noted that the new Call of Duty had the “biggest day one digital release” in the company’s history. This saw Black Ops 4 selling more digital copies than the previous record-holder, 2017’s Call of Duty WW2. However, physical sales of the game tell a different story; in the UK, they have declined by 59 percent when compared to Black Ops 3, despite the game topping the national charts.

Activision hasn’t released exact figures regarding its performance on Battle.net, though its comments indicate that the game has overtaken the publisher’s other heavy-hitters, including Destiny 2. But while digital sales of video games are increasing in general, they have yet to eclipse physical sales. Though Black Ops 4 enjoyed record-breaking launches on the PlayStation Store and the Xbox One Store, it is still unclear exactly how well it has performed in comparison with the previous Call of Duty games.

Still, Activision has a lot to celebrate. Along with being the best-selling full game on day one of its PS Store launch and the best-selling day-one Xbox Store digital game, the total number of players who connected to Black Ops 4‘s online servers was also higher than the number who logged on for CoD WW2. With online multiplayer being the series’ bread and butter — Treyarch opted to remove its annual single-player campaign this year — this is a heartening statistic for the franchise.

However, with both digital and physical sales not being taken into account by Chart-Track, it’s difficult to get a full picture of exactly how Black Ops 4 has performed in the UK. Take a look at the UK top 10 game sales chart below: