In keeping with one analyst, Call of Duty as a franchise is “underperforming” in 2025 resulting from quite a lot of components. Rhys Elliott of Alinea Analytics stated in an interview that among the components that he believes are contributing to Call of Duty’s decline embody “neighborhood burnout, questionable inventive and enterprise selections by Activision/Microsoft, and robust competitors.”
In phrases of the competitors, Elliott known as out Battlefield 6 and Arc Raiders, together with Fortnite, which lately had a preferred Simpsons season and launched its positively acquired Chapter 7.
“Xbox dropped the ball on the mistaken 12 months, as this 12 months noticed among the most fun shooter releases in years,” Elliott told Eurogamer. “Consideration is scarce.”
Elliott went on to say that gamers have gotten more and more dissatisfied with Call of Duty’s “lack of innovation.” Previous to Black Ops 7’s launch, Elliott stated folks would purchase Black Ops 7 even when they complained a couple of lack of innovation as a result of many individuals purchase new Call of Duty video games yearly as a part of “autopilot” buying. Elliott additionally predicted that Black Ops 7 would outsell Battlefield 6, however he made this prediction previous to the discharge of each video games.
Elliott additionally identified that Call of Duty’s flip towards extra “Fortnite-like cosmetics” and “non-military character skins” like Beavis and Butthead and Nicki Minaj has “alienated a good portion of the fanbase preferring a extra grounded navy aesthetic.”
For what it is value, Black Ops 7 doesn’t characteristic the identical form of wacky and over-the-top skins that Black Ops 6 had, partially as a result of Activision stated it heard the issues that Call of Duty had strayed from its id. Warzone, nevertheless, nonetheless has all of these sorts of skins.
For Black Ops 7 particularly, Elliott stated the sport’s co-op marketing campaign was a “main level of criticism,” whereas the sport’s use of “AI slop” was a sore spot for some.
“Participant reception was [also] largely damaging, with a largely damaging Steam consumer rating and overview bombing galore. Lengthy-standing participant frustrations, just like the perceived impression of skill-based matchmaking–and the deal with heavy microtransactions (skins and bundles) over core gameplay high quality, proceed to drive gamers away from the franchise,” he added.
Moreover, Elliott stated Black Ops 7 launching into Recreation Go “cannibalized conventional full-price recreation gross sales” for Xbox and PC. He pointed to the reporting that stated Black Ops 6 missed out on $300 million in potential gross sales because of the recreation being on Recreation Go.
“Our estimates have signaled time and time once more that Recreation Go cannibalizes recreation revenues–and Call of Duty is not any totally different,” he stated.
Past all of this, Elliott stated the advertising and marketing for Black Ops 7 was “fairly abysmal and underwhelming,” whereas the sport’s formal reveal occasion at Call of Duty Subsequent was “messy and did little to excite the neighborhood.”
“That is once more in stark distinction to the community-driven, centered advertising and marketing of Battlefield and Arc, whose growth and advertising and marketing has been extremely community-driven,” he stated.
Battlefield 6 has offered greater than 10 million copies, reportedly, however there isn’t any gross sales information out there but for Black Ops 7. Any comparability could be incomplete and unfair, as Black Ops 7 is on Recreation Go and is obtainable on extra platforms than Battlefield 6. No shooter has outsold Call of Duty by way of full-year within the US since 2006, although Battlefield 6 has already eclipsed the first-month gross sales of Black Ops 6 and Trendy Warfare 3.