Call of Duty has been a pop culture juggernaut for over two decades, but a new claim from Xbox’s CEO puts its scale in a whole new light.
In a recent interview marking Xbox’s 25th anniversary, CEO Asha Sharma and her leadership team sat down to discuss gaming’s growing footprint in Hollywood. The conversation covered Fallout’s record-breaking run on Amazon, the incoming Gears of War movie at Netflix, and a Call of Duty film now in development. But one line from Sharma cut through all of it.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma Says Call of Duty Beats the MCU on Revenue
Sharma, appearing on the cover of Entertainment Weekly, didn’t mince words when making the case for Xbox’s entertainment ambitions.
“You won’t see us try to become the biggest linear provider in the world or anything like that, but I think great games are culture, and culture is entertainment,” she said. “If you think about it, we’ve got the number two show of all time on Amazon [Fallout], Minecraft was top 5 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.”
She doubled down on the claim in a separate Bloomberg Tech interview, framing it as a defense of the $69 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition. “I don’t know anybody in entertainment who wouldn’t want Call of Duty, which is now grossing in more revenue than the Marvel Cinematic Universe,” Sharma said.
The numbers back her up, at least partially. The MCU has earned around $31.5 billion at the global box office, while Call of Duty has generated just over $32 billion across two decades in sales, microtransactions, and downloadable content. The gap is razor-thin, and critics are quick to point out that Marvel’s streaming revenue, merchandise, and home video sales aren’t factored in. But purely on the revenue Sharma is referencing, the claim holds.
Infinity Ward’s Mark Grigsby also weighed in on the Call of Duty film during the EW feature. “I love movies. I love video games. The fact that I’m working on a franchise that is working on a movie now is one of my greatest dreams,” he said.
The next major test for the franchise comes on October 23, when Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches on PS5, Xbox Series, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2.
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