Too big to fail they said. But clearly, this year's rendition of Call of Duty seems to have stumbled badly and after decades of dominance one might want to ask the question; has the giant finally fallen? Has the fire started to fade?
As some of you might recall, Black Ops 6 was a major success when it launched last year. It shattered several records and dominated the sales charts. It even managed to become the best-selling title on PlayStation 5 in the US, as well as breaking records on Steam. In other words, Black Ops 7 had a whole lot to live up to and the expectations have been nothing short of sky-high.
But Black Ops 7 has stumbled out of the gate rather than becoming that triumph many had hoped for. The campaign is described as a disappointment by many, and the numbers speak for themselves. According to SteamDB the game peaked at around 84,000 players on launch day, a fraction of the more than 300,000 players that joined the launch of Black Ops 6 last year, a drop of almost 70 per cent.
Though, despite the rocky start it is worth pointing out that Black Ops 7 still tops the sales charts as of this writing, and it's clear that its core users still enjoy the multiplayer component. But with tough competition from Battlefield 6 and Arc Raiders, it remains to be seen how big of a success Black Ops 7 will ultimately become.
Are you playing Black Ops 7, or did you skip this year's entry in favour of something else?