One of many largest year-end questions folks have in regards to the gaming business this yr is whether or not or not Battlefield 6 will outsell Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, a feat that may finish a 20-year run of Call of Duty’s dominance. It stays to be seen if that can occur, and whereas we look ahead to the info to come back in, Circana’s Mat Piscatella has shared some data points in regards to the shooter class within the US.
To start with, Piscatella identified that the final shooter sport to outsell a Call of Duty title within the US over a full yr was Gears of Conflict in 2006. The final FPS to beat Call of Duty was Star Wars: Battlefront II in 2005.
Call of Duty has reigned supreme within the US not simply within the shooter and FPS classes, however typically as properly. A Call of Duty sport has completed the yr because the best-selling title for 13 of the previous 16 years, the exceptions being 2013 (GTA 5), 2018 (Pink Lifeless Redemption II), and 2023 (Hogwarts Legacy).
“Nonetheless have some massive weeks of potential gross sales to come back, however this a part of the market hasn’t been this aggressive in 20 years,” Piscatella mentioned of the shooter and FPS classes of the gaming market.
He added that evaluating titles over such a very long time horizon is imperfect as a result of the gaming market at this time is way more “dynamic,” particularly with issues like subscription companies and free video games like Fortnite. This implies “gross sales alone do not inform the entire story.”
Battlefield 6 is already performing higher than Call of Duty’s newest releases within the US. First-month gross sales of Battlefield 6 have been greater than another sport’s first-month gross sales going again to 2022, that means Battlefield 6 offered higher out of the gate than 2024’s Black Ops 6 and 2023’s Fashionable Warfare 3. Battlefield 6 wanted simply 22 days to eclipse your entire lifetime gross sales of Battlefield 1 within the US.
It was reported earlier this yr that Microsoft missed out on $300 million+ in income for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 as a result of it was on Xbox Recreation Cross. That does not inform the entire story, although, because the Black Ops 6 launch little question incentivized folks to enroll in Recreation Cross.
Folks will need to examine Battlefield 6 and Black Ops 7, however no comparability between the 2 can be full or essentially truthful for quite a lot of causes. One is that Black Ops 7 is out there on Xbox Recreation Cross and PC Recreation Cross. Another is that Black Ops 7 is releasing on extra platforms than Battlefield 6, as Activision’s sport is supporting last-gen platforms and EA’s is just not. One more ingredient to contemplate is that Battlefield 6 sales are reportedly skewed toward PC.
Black Ops 7 launched on November 14, and in a break from custom, Activision’s celebratory first-weekend submit didn’t embody any knowledge about how the sport is performing in comparison with previous video games. Earlier than this, Activision acknowledged “fatigue” across the Black Ops model given the back-to-back releases of Black Ops 7 in 2024 and Black Ops 7 in 2025.
Previous to Black Ops 7’s launch, business specialists mentioned Battlefield 6 did not have an actual likelihood at beating Black Ops 7, partially due to the dimensions, scale, and momentum of the Call of Duty collection. One analyst mentioned folks purchase Call of Duty yearly with “autopilot buying,” even when they complain a couple of lack of recent options or innovation.
Circana’s report for US gross sales in November will probably be launched on December 17, so preserve checking again with GameSpot to see how Battlefield 6 and Black Ops 7 gross sales examine.