According to former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, the latest instalment in the Call of Duty series, Black Ops 7, "is on track to perform over 60 percent below last year".
The game's launcher, which also comprises Warzone and Black Ops 6, has seen historic low peak player counts on Steam, reaching a 24-hour peak of 38,974 players, ranking below Rainbow Six Siege X, Team Fortress 2, Dead by Daylight, Elden Ring Nightreign, and even the recently resurged Geometry Dash.
In response to the ongoing lawsuit objecting Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard King, Kotick stated that this sharp drop in sales was "because of intense competition from titles like Battlefield" (via Game File), which, despite losing players at an alarming rate, still has over double Call of Duty's current peak.
While Kotick didn't mention it by name, Call of Duty was also up against Arc Raiders, which has proven an enormous success, ranking #4 on Steam's most-played games in the last 24 hours.
A key concern raised during the acquisition by regulators was Call of Duty's alleged monpopoly over the multiplayer FPS market, but Kotick claimed that this "intense competition" is "destroying the FTC's now defeated argument [...] about...
