In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and several other execs have discussed the recent growth in the various live-action adaptations of multiple videogame IPs and consequently, dropped a huge claim regarding the Call of Duty franchise that can easily raise a couple of eyebrows.
“If you think about it, we’ve got the number two show of all time on Amazon (Fallout), Minecraft was top five in 2025, Call of Duty is bigger than the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So, it all measures. (There’s) more appetite to work with us on titles than ever before.”
And while she didn’t provide any numbers behind that claim, it could certainly be a possibility that the Call of Duty franchise has generated more revenue than all the films in the MCU have in total, as Activision’s juggernaut first person shooter franchise is one of the most instantly recognizable as well as highest selling videogame IPs to have ever come out. So in terms of pure numerical basis, she could totally be correct, however, this year’s Avengers: Doomsday could very well close the numbers gap between the MCU and Call of Duty, so there’s that.
In the interview, Sharma also made another ambitious and upfront statement regarding the future potential of Xbox:
“(XBOX has) not reached the boundary of games, and, therefore, we need to make sure our platform is sufficiently open so more creators and developers can come on board and be successful, because the next Kojima is yet to be known.”
In other news of Microsoft’s gaming division, Xbox Game Studios boss Craig Duncan has announced his retirement from the role after 20 months and in addition, Chief of Staff Louise O’Connor who has been a part of the platform for far longer, will also be leaving Xbox soon. And coupled with the imminent layoffs, possible studio closures and job cuts on the horizon for the brand, it seems like troubling times are ahead for Xbox.
