Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 launched this past November with strong expectations, however the franchise has seen some player interest dropping. While Battlefield 6 continues its surprising commercial surge and is positioned to outsell Activision’s household shooter game by the end of this year. 

According to data that was shared to Gamesindustry.biz from Alinea Analytics Black Ops 7 sold 401,000 units over launch compared to 2.3 Million for Black Ops 6. According to Video Game Insights Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has a concurrent peak player count 80% lower than that of 2022’s Modern Warfare 2.

Graph from Video Game Insights, pulled from Gamesindustry.biz

This data chart from Video Game Insights suggest that this number of daily active player across the Call of Duty community on all platforms fell to 18 million last month, which is a 50% decrease from the 36 million that was prevalent during Black Ops 6 in December of 2024.

Graph from Video Game Insights, pulled from Gamesindustry.biz

In a post on Blusky from Mat Piscatella we learn that the Call of Duty franchise has done it again marking the 18th consecutive years that a Call of Duty game has been the best selling game in its release month.

November 2025 U.S. Video Game Market Highlights Thread from Circana – The release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 marked the 18th consecutive year that a CoD franchise release has been the best-selling game of its release month, while PS5 led hardware in both unit and dollar sales.

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— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) Dec 17, 2025 at 9:00 AM

Across Europe and other regions opening week sales for Black Ops 7 were reported to be around 63% lower than Battlefield 6’s launch in several major European markets. Battlefield 6 is the biggest launch in franchise history. Comparing Black Ops 7 the newest installment of Call of Duty to the previous Black Ops 6 which had a 50% better launch than Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 (2023). 

To counter these trends, Activision has slashed prices, offering discounts on Black Ops 7 standard and deluxe editions and even free multiplayer trials to entice players during the holiday season. If you are trying to purchase the newest installment you can for $40 at Best Buy and $48.99 on the PlayStation storefront. Dropping drastically from it’s original price from release at $70. 

Meanwhile, Battlefield 6 has defied expectations in 2025. According to EA the game racked up strong early sale figures selling more than 7 million within the game’s first few days on shelves. This launch performance has not only outpaced Black Ops 7 in many markets but ultimately made it the best-selling game in the U.S. for 2025 so far according to a Circana report. Battlefield 6 is now extremely likely to finish the year outselling Black Ops 7; this would be a historic outcome in a rivalry that has typically seen Call of Duty dominate annual sales. 

2025 Year-to-Date chart with corrected reporting dates. (Jan 5 through Nov 29).

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— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) Dec 17, 2025 at 9:41 AM

There are several factors that could be possibly driving this shift. With Call of Duty being available on Xbox Game Pass this could have easily dropped the sales margin for the game. Consumer Fatigue could stem from the back-to-back releases of game titles. Historically Call of Duty would have multiple developers working on separate games. Traditionally the Modern Warfare series was worked on by Infinity Ward and the Black Ops series worked on by Treyarch, however this has changed in recent years.

In 2022, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was released and the year after Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was released . In 2024, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was released and then Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 followed it up this November. This could possibly generate consumer fatigue because of the traditional formula of one year with Modern Warfare and one year with Black Ops is what players are used to. Some players believe that developing games in this fashion allows Activision to get lazy with the production of these games by re-using assets from previous games. However, Activision has reached out to fans claiming that they will “stop having back-to-back releases of Modern Warfare and the Black Ops games, because they want to provide an absolutely unique experience each and every year.”

Gameplay and content decisions may be decreasing players’ and content creators enthusiasm about the game. Along with controversy about the game using generative AI has many fans concluding that this use proves Activision’s laziness. Currently Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has Metacritic scores that show feedback for the game has been mixed coming in at 69 out of 100 along with an almost universal user score of 1.6 out of 10.

As 2025 closes out, Battlefield 6’s performance signals a potential paradigm shift in the first-person shooter landscape. While Call of Duty remains one of the most played and culturally significant franchises in gaming, Black Ops 7’s need for price cuts and heavy promotions suggest that even dominant brands cannot rely solely on legacy to guarantee success.