Tech giant Microsoft (MSFT) has a problem with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 as the first-person shooter video game isn’t doing well at retaining players. The latest Steam numbers show an average of 54,897 concurrent players over the last 30 days. That’s a 10.5% drop from the prior period.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 came out in October 2024 and has consistently lost players since its release. The game’s all-time peak concurrent players was nearly 489,000 in October. While some drop is expected as players lose interest and move on to other games, Black Ops 6 is bleeding players faster than previous Call of Duty titles have.
This raises concerns about the future of the Call of Duty franchise and Microsoft’s massive investment in developer Activision Blizzard, which it bought for $75.4 billion in October 2023. If future games in the series continue to lose players, it could spell trouble for the series, which has recently faced criticism from fans.
What This Means for MSFT Stock
Xbox is one division of Microsoft and Call of Duty is one of many game series under its control. As such, the player count drop isn’t likely to have a major effect on MSFT stock. Still, small losses can add up over time.
MSFT stock is down 0.3% as of Friday afternoon and has fallen 6.97% year-to-date. The stock has also experienced a 4.67% drop over the last year.
Is MSFT Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, the analysts’ consensus rating for Microsoft is Strong Buy based on 29 Buy and three Hold ratings over the last three months. With that comes an average price target of $510.48, a high of $600, and a low of $425. This represents a potential 30.5% upside for MSFT stock.
