Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Launch Drawed Fewer Active US Players Than Black Ops 7

Speculation has circulated for some time that Call of Duty may be losing its appeal. While there is no concrete data with detailed statistics for each game released over the past several years, an observable trend in player numbers has emerged that is difficult to ignore.

US market analysis firm Circana published data showing player engagement with Modern Warfare 4 following its launch, comparing them to the figures for Black Ops 7.

The data draws on Circana’s proprietary Player Engagement Tracker, which monitors 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.

Excluding Steam, those figures are down compared to last year’s Black Ops 7, which saw 23 percent engagement on PlayStation, 29 percent on Xbox and a mere 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 respectable 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 on the same date as its premium release. Game Pass availability typically boosts player numbers, though not always sales.

The drop on PlayStation is a little harder to explain, but could be a side effect of the hugely 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 available, such as SteamDB numbers showing Modern Warfare 4’s launch compared to Black Ops 7’s and other recent releases, there is evidence that this year’s game perhaps was not as popular as it could have been.

Indeed, even Activision’s tone when discussing Call of Duty’s first-weekend sales has shifted. The publisher released a single statement following Modern Warfare 4’s launch, delivered through Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, which does not even name the game.

“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 avoided talk of sales and revenue entirely, instead praising the “great response to the quality and depth of gameplay in Black Ops 7”.

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Remedy – the developer behind the recently released Control Resonant – has put out a striking quarterly financial report. It shows that following Resonant’s release in September, the company’s revenue jumped by 226 percent, bringing in €39.6m in Q3.

This performance was described as “a defining milestone for the company” by CEO Jean-Charles Gaudechon. The company reported a €0.6m operating profit this quarter, a notable move upwards from the €16.4m loss recorded at this time last year.

There are some interesting highlights to this sudden surge in performance. For one, the US accounted for nearly half of Control Resonant’s players across PC and console, followed by Chinese-speaking regions and then the UK.

Perhaps most crucially, nearly half of Control Resonant’s players were entirely new to the franchise, with the company stating: “Reaching new players was a key goal for this game, and these early results indicate a growing audience for the franchise and for Remedy.”

Control (2019) also saw a bump up in sales thanks to the release of Control Resonant, showing a stronger performance this quarter than the past two quarters this year as well as its comparison period (this quarter last year).

Remedy’s CEO now believes the focus for the studio is to “get Resonant into the hands of more players.” He continues to say the game has provided a solid foundation for growth as other projects (including the Max Payne 1 & 2 remake) are in the works. In short, things appear to be looking rather good for Remedy.

Control Resonant was an artistically impressive but critically divisive game. While many praised the series’ adventure into third person action, some felt it had less of a narrative bite than its predecessor. Nonetheless the game quickly blasted past one million sales after launch.

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