A new year means a new Call of Duty game, but Black Ops 7 hasn't been hitting quite the
same as its older siblings. Is this a one-off misstep, or is the entire franchise in decline
We have the facts. You be the judge. "...a lot of people counting on us for answers
So we ready here? Let's f----- do this." From the outside looking in, it's obvious that Call of Duty Black Ops 7 is a new low
point for the series. Back in 2010, the very first Black Ops breathed some much-needed new life into the Call of
Duty series. It's still the most beloved of all the Black Ops games
At least, that's what Metacritic says. It has a score in the high 80s, and not a single sequel has beaten it so far
With that said, most of the Black Ops games received Metacritic scores in the 80s as well
aside from Black Ops Cold War, which ranked in the mid-70s. Black Ops 7 broke the streak even harder
don't completely hate the game, but they aren't really singing its praises, either. It scored
a 67 from critics on Metacritic, and the general player score is much, much lower
Setting aside the numbers for a moment, gamers in online discussions also genuinely agree
that the Black Ops series peaked early in its lifecycle Fans are particularly fond of Black Ops 2 which debuted all the way back in 2012 Now it seems like Black Ops may never be able to recapture that early magic
No more games. This ends now. Critic reviews and online fan discussions aren't our only tools for measuring the success
of Black Ops 7. As far as the player base on PC is concerned
there's hard data about the game's popularity with actual players. Unfortunately, Black Ops 7 is on track to be a massive disappointment in that regard
Black Ops 7 landed in players' hands on November 14th. Two days later, the game hit a peak player count of just over 100,000
That's a far cry from the peak player count for Black Ops 6, which topped 300,000
Even more concerning, all those Black Ops 7 players didn't stick around for very long
A month after the game's release, its player count had dropped well over 50%
and barely over 50,000 people were playing the game on a daily basis
Perhaps the numbers are better on console, but this decline doesn't bode well for Activision
At this point, Call of Duty as a whole is probably too big to fail, but there's definitely a chance that we never get a Black Ops 8
2025 has been a big year for first shooters With the release of both Battlefield 6 and Black Ops 7 FPS fans got to see the two mega franchises go head for the first time in years The games debuted about a month apart from each other
and gamers everywhere were excited to see what title would come out on top
Shouldn't you be counting stacks of money somewhere? Oh, that comes later
Before E! The Game was released, there were clear signs that Call of Duty should be watching its
back. For one thing, Battlefield fans are primed for a franchise comeback after years of waiting
while Call of Duty fans have been spoiled for content. Add to that the fact that Black Ops 6
left a sour taste in the mouths of a solid fraction of players and it's obvious that 2025
was a chance for Battlefield to really shine. Now that both games have hit the market
we can compare them a little more clearly. Reports indicate that Black Ops 7 became the
most-played game in the United States in the month after its release. But on the other hand
Battlefield 6 ultimately made more money. That relative lack of sales could be a sign that
interest in Call of Duty, or at least the Black Ops branding, is beginning to wane
It's hard to say that there was a definitive winner in the 2025 FPS battle, but Call of Duty
should absolutely be worried about Battlefield as a competitor going forward. Buying Call of Duty for its story mode is kind of like buying Chex Mix for the little breadsticks where you all know that not really why you got it Still some of the series installments have featured genuinely spectacular stories The first Black Ops game for instance featured a mind narrative
with a truly stacked cast. It's set a high bar that arguably no Black Ops sequel has lived up to
But the Black Ops 7 campaign is particularly disappointing by comparison. Players have taken
to the internet to make their complaints about the Black Ops 7 campaign known
On a gameplay level, most players don't agree with the direction that the game has taken
They aren't fans of the semi-open-world level design, the XP mechanics, or the seemingly out-of-place boss battles
Wow, that was weird, huh? All that lackluster gameplay would be tolerable if the game had a strong story, but
it's been a failure on that front, too. Fans have complained that the campaign's narrative mostly
spins its wheels to arrive at a cliffhanger ending that's trying to sell you on seasonal
content drops. New seasons are supposed to continue the story of the campaign, but the
very first one for Black Ops 7 unceremoniously kills off the game's main villain in a cutscene
Maybe it's some sort of fake-out, but the seemingly baffling decision has already left
a sour taste in many fans' mouths. The Black Ops 7 campaign has left players wanting, and many of them aren't satisfied
by the game's multiplayer, either