Former Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has blamed the huge drop in Call of Duty sales on the strong reception of Battlefield 6, not the poor critical reception of Black Ops 7.
In a new court filing fighting against a lawsuit focusing on Microsoft’s acquisition of the games publisher, Kotick claimed that sales for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 were significantly lower than expected due to strong competition from EA.
In the massive document, reported by GameFile (paywalled), Kotick claimed that “console sales are at an all-time low and Call of Duty sales are off over 60 percent from the prior year”. At the time of writing, Microsoft has not released any official sales data for the newest CoD title, although reception has been poor enough for the company to announce a shift in production pipeline.
Kotick claimed that the success of Battlefield 6 is to blame for the large drop-off in Call of Duty sales, saying Black Ops 7’s poorer sales are due to “intense competition from titles like Battlefield—destroying the FTC’s now defeated argument about Call of Duty’s purported monopoly and the lack of competition in the first-person action game category”.
While Battlefield 6 is the best-selling game in the franchise yet, it may not be the main cause of dropped sales for Call of Duty in 2025. Alongside competition from EA, Black Ops 7 also launched day and date on Xbox Game Pass. Additionally, Call of Duty was largely criticised on launch for its large amount of AI-generated assets, poor campaign, and recycled multiplayer.
While there’s technically no proof that the launch success of Battlefield 6 and its RedSec battle royale is the cause of Call of Duty’s large sales decline, it may have had some effect. Despite fans’ claims that the two games are largely opposite, there is more crossover than many would assume.
As for the future of Battlefield 6, the game has seen a significant population decline since launch, but the game is still set to receive a slew of major updates. The game’s Season 2 update has been delayed until February, but the game’s ongoing debut season will continue to receive new events and content.
On the Call of Duty side, the series is set to finally see its legally mandated Nintendo Switch launch in the near future. Additionally, development is continuing on the 2026 iteration of the franchise which is in the works at Sledgehammer Games.
