Call Of Duty launches in 2026 with historically low number of players

Call of Duty had a lot to prove in 2025. Not only was it competing with Battlefield 6 and Arc Raiders, but it also had the unenviable job of recovering from Black Ops 6's post-launch controversies. Moving away from silly cartoon skins was a step in the right direction, but the outlandish co-op campaign and AI calling cards immediately took back what little goodwill Treyarch had won back.

And already we're back to crossovers with Fallout.

Even with free weekends, 50 percent discounts, and the best Zombies mode in over a decade, Activision hasn't been able to salvage last year's disappointment. The launcher, which includes Black Ops 7, Warzone, and Black Ops 6 now has a 24-hour peak of just 52,632 players, which is among the lowest in its history.

To put that number into perspective, Call of Duty is now 44th on the Steam charts, ranked behind Battlefield 6 – which is also bleeding players – VRChat, Dead by Daylight, Rainbow Six Siege X, Team Fortress 2, Elden Ring Nightreign, Marvel Rivals and, of course, Arc Raiders.

Christmas did little to help Black Ops 7; In fact, the game continued to lose players

Call of Duty launcher player count leaderboard showing steady decline into 2026.

Usually, during the holiday season, there is an influx of new players; that's why Activision is asking us to take it easy on Christmas noobs. But the game actually tanked in December – just a month after launch – and fell to a low of 43,569 players. While today's peak is marginally higher, it is part of a much more pronounced decline, indicating that interest in the series since 2019 is at an all-time low.

Future seasons could give Black Ops 7 a new lease of life, but given that post-launch content is already failing to draw players back, that seems unlikely. Once again, it's up to this year's Call of Duty to win back the community, but this time Infinity Ward is competing with GTA 6, which will be one of the biggest launches in the history of the medium.

Black Ops 7 already had a lot to prove: Modern Warfare 4 has a bottomless pit to climb out of.