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- Notable analysts claim that COD had a rough year as other shooters dominated instead.
- The franchise failed to innovate, made multiple critical mistakes, and faced competition from other shooters.
- Success in the live-service genre via annual releases is not possible, even for a big IP like COD.
Call of Duty fumbled the ball with Black Ops 7 this year after the last game’s striking reception. A flurry of negative reviews by critics and gamers, alongside poor sales, made the giant stumble against rising shooters like Arc Raiders and Battlefield 6.
Prolific industry analysts now also express that COD in 2025 has underperformed severely due to a lack of innovation, AI use, and an unrealistic campaign. This caused the big-shot FPS franchise to face serious competition for the first time in years.
However, analysts also issued a warning that COD’s current trajectory threatens its future unless it turns things around.
Why it matters: Call of Duty’s downfall was unexpected this year, placing it in murky waters against other rising shooters in the industry.
Speaking with Eurogamer, The Game Business’s Chris Dring and head of market analysis at Alinea Analytics, Rhys Elliot, clarify that Battlefield 6 and Arc Raiders have innovated and used a community-first approach to thrive in the live-service market.
This led to many old-time COD players jumping ship to BF6 and other titles. Therefore, Chris revealed that the monthly active player count for COD was quite low this year, despite still mostly being above 20 million.
Black Ops 7’s specific issues contribute to its underperformance, but in general there’s a systemic challenge: the live-service shooter market is now ruthlessly consolidated.
-Rhys Elliot, analyst.
Successful live-service titles now only stand out because of their innovative approaches to existing genres. For example, Arc Raiders broadened the extraction shooter formula for gamers, while Marvel Rivals exploited the low quality of other hero shooter titles at the time.
Finding consistent success in this segment is difficult, even for a massive, established franchise.
Elliot clarifies that COD can no longer perform well by having annual releases, but requires exceptional games with player-first development or innovation that stands out in the FPS genre.
Do you think the next Call of Duty title will improve things for the franchise, or is it going to collapse in the near future amid rising competition? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or join the discussion on the Tech4Gamers forum.
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Shameer Sarfaraz has previously worked for eXputer as a Senior News Writer for several years. Now with Tech4Gamers, he loves to devoutly keep up with the latest gaming and entertainment industries. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and years of experience reporting on games. Besides his passion for breaking news stories, Shahmeer loves spending his leisure time farming away in Stardew Valley. VGC, IGN, GameSpot, Game Rant, TheGamer, GamingBolt, The Verge, NME, Metro, Dot Esports, GameByte, Kotaku Australia, PC Gamer, and more have cited his articles.
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