Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 stumbles in European launch, with sales 63% below Battlefield 6
Blacks Ops 7’s launch sales were down more than 60% compared to last year’s game
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7’s launch sales were down more than 60% in Europe compared to the series’ previous instalment.
That’s according to data from GSD, which tracks digital and physical sales across Europe, published by The Game Business.
This year’s Call of Duty launched amid increased competition from Electronic Arts’ Battlefield 6 and Nexon’s breakout hit Arc Raiders. The game has also received middling review scores from media outlets, and overwhelmingly negative user reviews.
According to the GSD data, Black Ops 7’s opening week sales were 63% below what Battlefield 6 managed in its own debut week. According to Ampere Analysis, over 25% of Call of Duty players in September picked up Battlefield 6 in October.
It’s worth noting that because Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is included in the Xbox Game Pass subscription service, and Battlefield 6 isn’t, Black Ops 7’s player count is likely much higher.
Further reading
As noted by Kotaku, Activision’s own communications after Black Ops 7’s release have been unusually muted.
The publisher usually shares celebratory announcements about player or sales figures following the launch of each Call of Duty. However, this year the company shared no such accolades, stating only that it had seen a “great response”.
Microsoft acquired the Call of Duty franchise as part of its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2023, and will point to the strong performance of its last entry as evidence that the FPS remains as popular as ever.
2024’s Call of Duty, Black Ops 6, was the first to launch day-and-date on Xbox Game Pass. Although early results were positive, with Microsoft declaring it the biggest CoD launch ever in terms of players, the game saw a sharper post-launch decline than usual.
Speaking to VGC in October, former Call of Duty director, Glen Schofield, said he was ‘immensely worried’ about the future of the franchise under Microsoft, and questioned whether the Xbox maker’s culture will be compatible with the teams behind the FPS over the long term.
