Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 faces historic backlash and record-low sales performance

Countries & Cities · Published 10 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Released in 2025, the twenty-second main entry in the Call of Duty franchise struggled to resonate with its audience. Despite ambitious features like omnidirectional movement and a cooperative campaign, the title suffered from severe review bombing and the weakest year-end commercial performance for the series in nearly two decades.

Set in 2035, Black Ops 7 follows a JSOC unit investigating the supposed return of terrorist Raul Menendez. The game introduced a cooperative campaign set in the Mediterranean city of Avalon, alongside traditional multiplayer and round-based Zombies modes. Mechanically, it retained the omnidirectional movement from its predecessor, Black Ops 6, while adding new wall-jumping capabilities. However, the campaign faced criticism for its design, particularly regarding the absence of mid-mission checkpoints and the inability to pause during single-player sessions.

The game's reception was notably polarized. While critics offered praise for the multiplayer maps and the atmosphere of the Zombies mode, the player base reacted with hostility. On Metacritic, the title reached a user score of 1.5, marking a franchise low. Much of this frustration stemmed from the use of generative artificial intelligence for in-game assets, which drew public scrutiny from U.S. representative Ro Khanna, and a perceived lack of innovation compared to earlier entries. Analysts also pointed to long-standing player fatigue regarding microtransactions and cosmetic items as significant factors in the backlash.

Commercially, the game failed to match the momentum of previous releases. It finished 2025 as the fifth highest-selling title in the United States, representing the lowest year-end ranking for a Call of Duty game since 2008. International markets saw even sharper declines, with European opening week sales dropping by more than half compared to Black Ops 6. In Japan, the PlayStation 5 version recorded the lowest debut for any title in the series, and Steam concurrent player counts were significantly lower than those achieved by its 2024 predecessor.

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