New sales data shows it may have been a rough year for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, as the latest entry in the series appears to have failed to break into the top five best-selling games of 2025. While Activision's smash-hit first-person shooter franchise has been going strong for over two decades now, its limelight appears to have finally been stolen as titles such as Battlefield 6, NBA 2K26, Monster Hunter: Wilds, and many more have outperformed Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.
To developer Treyarch Studios' credit, tons of highly requested fan changes were implemented in the build-up to the launch of this year's Call of Duty title. After testing out the return of a more traditional open-matchmaking system in the Black Ops 7 beta, which prioritized connection over skill, the studio announced that it would be fully implemented for launch, something fans have been eager to see for over half a decade. Publisher Activision also addressed the controversy surrounding unrealistic cosmetic items in Black Ops 6, admitting that the series had strayed too far from what it once was and promising to dial back on big-brand collaborations. The studio also canceled the controversial Carry Forward feature for Black Ops 7, preventing users from taking their Black Ops 6 skins into this year's entry.
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These changes, among the many others implemented by Treyarch, resulted in Black Ops 7's Multiplayer receiving positive reviews from the community. However, the same can sadly not be said for its new Co-Op Campaign. At the time of writing, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's Metacritic reviews are less than favorable. The overall critic score has it as an average of 66-67, depending on the platform, while user reviews are far, far more negative. With over 3,000 reviews, Black Ops 7's user score is an abysmal 1.6, making it the lowest-reviewed Call of Duty game of all time in terms of user reviews. It's also close to being the worst-reviewed entry in the series among critics, beaten only by 2023's Modern Warfare 3, which has a score of 56.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Fails to Crack Top 5 Games of 2025
As one of the lowest-rated entries in the series, it may come as no surprise to learn that sales data compiled by Circana's Mat Piscatella shows that Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is only the seventh best-selling game in the US. This is still an impressive position to be in, but given that new Call of Duty games have dominated the sales charts nearly every year for over two decades now, it's clearly a worrying sign for the series. It is, however, worth noting that this data has been compiled up until November 29, which means there is still the Christmas period to take into account, which could have a big impact on sales. But, with that being said, it seems unlikely that Black Ops 7 will manage to climb its way past the likes of Monster Hunter: Wilds, NBA 2K26, and the best-selling shooter of the year, Battlefield 6.
It looks like Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 did have a successful launch month, though, as it was the number one best-selling game in the US for the month of November. For comparison, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 placed in the number two position for the same time period in 2024, only being beaten by EA Sports College Football 25. This was also the first entry to launch day one on Xbox Game Pass, but still managed to become one of the best-selling games of the year, unlike Black Ops 7.
There are a multitude of reasons why Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 may be underperforming. The series' continued launch-day debut on Xbox Game Pass could be seriously affecting sales, but massive releases in the final few months of the year have likely impacted gamers' buying habits as well. With fans fed up of Call of Duty's rinse and repeat titles year after year, especially with Black Ops 6 and 7 launching back to back, games like Battlefield 6 and ARC Raiders have become all the more enticing. Although Call of Duty has regularly outperformed Battlefield, publisher EA and developer DICE came out swinging this year after the disastrous launch of Battlefield 2042 in 2021, returning with one of the best Battlefield games in years.