Since 2007, without fail, Call of Duty has released an annual title, and for a period in the 2010s, so did its main competitor, Battlefield, the latter of which took a break before returning earlier this year with Battlefield 6.
Only real ones remember Christmas Day lobbies with an influx of tier 1 players and double XP all weekend, no matter what the annual COD was.
Each of these years, thousands of children, teenagers and adults have made either Call of Duty or Battlefield their top Christmas wish, often leading to a massive influx of new players on Christmas Day, their wishes seemingly granted.
Yes, if that…
Judging by the available player count data on SteamDB, it seems Christmas hasn't helped relaunch either Battlefield 6 or Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, both of which have struggled with players at the same time either at launch (Black Ops 7) or in the months following (Battlefield 6).
Battlefield 6 player numbers at all-time low after failed winter offensive update
The Winter Offensive update hasn't been very well received. Understandably enough. A lot of the game feels broken.
The end result is two live service games seemingly chugging along with a very muted player base.
Both titles have been deeply discounted, and it seems to have had little impact
At the time of writing, 70,527 players are actively playing Battlefield 6, up from the mid-40,000s the game had surfaced for just a few days before. Its 24-hour peak stands at 99,369, far from the all-time high of 747,440 players that showed up at launch.
When it comes to Christmas Day itself, the game managed to shoot from roughly 75,000 players to just under 100,000. But within hours, that number cratered back to its normal trends.
On the Black Ops 7 side, 44,396 players are currently engaged in the game. Specifically, 44,396 players are engaged in some way with the Call of Duty app, because that's where everything is.
It's unclear how much of that is on Black Ops 7, but given the bad reviews, it's safe to assume it's not a ton.
Black Ops 7's 24 hour peak is 51,017 players, and between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day it didn't quite peak due to a new influx of players. In fact, if you look at things over a week-long breakdown, the game was more popular almost a week ago on Sunday (62,442 players) than it is right now.
Before Christmas, Black Ops 7 was as much as 50 percent off its recommended price, something that historically has almost never happened. Meanwhile, Battlefield 6 was a big recipient of Black Friday sales, and is even currently on sale at various retailers for as little as $39.99.
Without giving the game away for free, it's unclear what else either Battlefield 6 or Black Ops 7 has to do to return to video games' good graces. Based on the above player count, it doesn't sound like many players asked Santa for either title.
- Released
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10 October 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, In-App Purchases, User Interaction
- Developer
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Battlefield Studios
Asking Santa for a Pokemon game makes me feel like a kid again
Trying to convince Santa to help me catch them all for Christmas makes me feel nostalgic.
