It’s been speculated for a while that Call of Duty may be losing its lustre. Although we don’t have concrete data with detailed statistics for each game released in the last several years, there’s an observable trend in player numbers that’s hard to ignore.
US market analysis firm Circana published some data showing player engagement with Modern Warfare 4 following its launch, and compared them to those by Black Ops 7.
The data is based on Circana’s proprietary Player Engagement Tracker, which tracks player activity in the US across Steam and PlayStation, and worldwide on Xbox. According to Circana analyst Mat Piscatella, 19 percent of players on PlayStation played Modern Warfare 4 in the week ending 24th October, compared to 17 percent on Xbox, and 4.2 percent on Steam.
With the exception of Steam, those numbers are down compared to last year’s Black Ops 7, which saw 23 percent engagement on PlayStation, 29 percent on Xbox, and a meagre 1.5 percent on Steam during its launch week.
Call of Duty managed to land in the top 10 across all three platforms during the same week ending 24th October, per Circana. In fact, it sat just below Fortnite on PlayStation, which is a decent result.
The large drop in activity on Xbox could be explained by Modern Warfare 4’s lack of a day-one release on Game Pass. Black Ops 7 was the second (and last) Call of Duty to launch on Game Pass day-and-date with its premium release. Game Pass availability typically boosts player numbers
The drop on PlayStation is a little harder to explain, but could be a side effect of the incredibly successful Black Ops 1 & 2 ports released in the summer on PS4 and PS5, which captured lapsed players who may have simply lost interest in modern Call of Duty, regardless of the perceived quality of Modern Warfare 4.
Judging by the data we have access to, such as SteamDB numbers showing Modern Warfare 4’s launch compared to Black Ops 7’s and other recent releases, there’s evidence this year’s game perhaps isn’t as popular as it could’ve been.
Indeed, even Activision’s tenor when talking about Call of Duty first weekend sales has changed. The publisher issued a single statement following Modern Warfare 4’s launch, through Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, which does not even mention the game by name.
“One of the most celebrated Call of Duty games in its 24-year history, and now $40bn in lifetime franchise revenue,” Sharma wrote on X. “An incredible milestone. Congrats to the Activision team. And to the players, thank you for being with us.”
Last year’s Black Ops 7 post-launch statement sidestepped talk of sales and revenue entirely, insteading praising the “great response to the quality and depth of gameplay in Black Ops 7”.