Activision announced that it will There are no longer back-to-back releases of Modern Warfare or Black Ops.as new data is transferred GamesIndustry.biz indicates a significant lag from the recent Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.
The game was poorly received by reviewers and players, with a Metacritic score of 66 on console and 57 on PC, and third-party tracking data from multiple sources suggests that the game attracted far fewer players than previous installments in the series.
Alinea Analytics data provided GamesIndustry.biz suggests that Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 sold 401,000 copies on Steam 26 days after launch, compared to Black Ops 6 selling 2.3 million copies in the same period last year. According to Alinea, its rival Battlefield 6 sold 5.7 times faster on Steam after launching in early October.
The data is telling: Call of Duty sales on Steam tend to be weaker because the game hasn't always been available on the platform and is also included in PC Game Pass.
Separate data from Newzoo shows that parent app Call of Duty HQ had an average monthly user count (MAU) of 21.5 million in January-October 2005, excluding the launch of Black Ops 7, with 93.6 million lifetime players.
Video Game Insights provided additional statistics: Steam data shows Black Ops 7 trailing the last three Call of Duty games by a wide margin, with peak concurrent users 80% lower than 2002's Modern Warfare 2. The company said its DAU and MAU estimates on PC, PlayStation and Xbox correlate with its Steam data, showing the peak of Black Ops 7's launch period falling short of Black Ops 2024. Operation 6: VGI estimates overall Call of Duty DAU at 18 million in November 2024, after a steady decline from 36 million in December 2024.
Activision has not released sales or performance figures for Black Ops 7. A message announcing the change in strategy, attributed to the “Call of Duty team,” proclaims that “the future of Call of Duty is very strong” and that the company wants to “innovate in a meaningful way rather than incrementally.” While we are not sharing these plans today, we look forward to doing so when the time comes.”
“The number of daily active users on all three major platforms – PC, PlayStation and Xbox – remains significantly below recent levels,” Video Game Insights said in a statement accompanying the data. “Neither platform seems to compensate for the other; instead, player participation is compressed evenly across the ecosystem. However, it is interesting that the proportion of users on these platforms has remained relatively constant over the past twelve months. This stability indicates that the decline is not the result of players abandoning one platform for another. Rather, it reflects a general decline in interest in the newest part.”
“Taken together, the data points to a fundamental problem with the Black Ops 7 experience. Whether the cause is franchise fatigue, changing genre preferences, competition from other games, or a failure to meet player expectations, the early indicators are clear: these are not normal launch cycle fluctuations. This is a significant deviation from historical figures.”
Rhys Elliott of Alinea Analytics believes that Black Ops 7's day one release will “cannibalize traditional full-game sales on Xbox and PC.”
Elliott also points to recent reports of Game Pass launching on day one of Black Ops 6. Potential console and PC sales reportedly cost Microsoft $300 million..
“While Call of Duty will remain a revenue behemoth, its vulnerability puts pressure on the rest of Microsoft's gaming division, which is already facing nearly impossible profitability targets,” Elliott says. “Ultimately, the results of Black Ops 7 serve as a loud and clear call for change under Microsoft's leadership.”
“Whether this is simply a year off for Call of Duty or the first chapter in the fall of an industry mainstay depends on what Xbox does next.”
Speaking specifically about Black Ops 7, Elliott speculates that its poor performance was due to “a combination of community burnout, questionable creative and business decisions by Activision and Microsoft, and intense competition.”
“Black Ops 7's specific issues contribute to its poor performance, but overall there is a systemic problem: the online shooter market is now ruthlessly consolidated,” Elliott continues, highlighting the recent successes of Arc Raiders and Helldivers 2.
“Achieving sustained success in this segment is difficult, even for a large, established franchise. The path to success is no longer a guaranteed annual release, but rather requires exceptional product quality, genuine innovation, or finding a forgotten sub-genre or new niche where the inertia of the 'incumbents' does not yet have absolute influence.”
He concludes: “For years, Call of Duty was virtually immune to competition, but now the player base is fractured and disgruntled, the franchise is creatively exhausted, and rivals have become more methodical and focused (while setting record launches).
“Xbox will have to change its strategy. The annual cycle no longer works. It's time for a biannual Call of Duty with Warzone and seasonal content in between.”
