New data from Circana reveals that although Modern Warfare 4 is widely considered one of the better Call of Duty games in years, it still failed to attract players at launch.
The newly released data paints a concerning picture for those under the Activision umbrella working on Call of Duty, as Circana shows that active players during Modern Warfare 4’s launch were fewer than those on Black Ops 7, at least on console.
On the PlayStation 5 in the US, active players fell from Black Ops 7‘s 23% to 19% for Modern Warfare 4, and from 29% to 17% on Xbox, with the huge downturn here being because Black Ops 7 was available for Game Pass at launch. Steam did see an uptick, from 1.5% to 4.2%, but the numbers across the board unfortunately don’t reflect that Modern Warfare 4 was a brilliant title; players still aren’t buying Call of Duty.
Franchise fatigue is real, and Call of Duty has suffered from it for a long time. Warzone during the COVID pandemic was a lifeline for the franchise, but since then, the franchise has seen a year-on-year decline, which is a trend that can no longer be sustained with increasing development costs. That’s one reason Call of Duty has relied heavily on the ‘Black Ops’ and ‘Modern Warfare’ sub-franchises over the last few years, but with Sledgehammer Games set to release its premium title in 2027 as a new sub-franchise, the risk is greater than ever.
Sources working on Call of Duty tell me this reality isn’t being ignored, and although Sledgehammer Games’ next title is well underway, it’s a massive risk for the franchise.
So how can Call of Duty get players back, especially on a subfranchise that no one would have heard of? The answer is actually quite simple, and despite all the data Activision has thrown in our faces over the years, it’s simply to remove skill-based matchmaking.
Remove SBMM and be Transparent
It feels like a tale as old as time at this point, but honestly, if Call of Duty wants an uptick in players and a community buzzing around it, it needs to remove skill-based matchmaking. But more importantly, Call of Duty needs public figures (community managers, directors, etc.) who are honest and transparent with its community.
Ubisoft’s XDefiant pre-launch marketing focused on the fact that it didn’t have SBMM. The result? One million unique players in 2.5 hours after launch, Ubisoft’s fastest-ever game to hit such a number. As we all know, though, XDefiant would eventually be canceled later that year, and although I think it’s easy for people to point the finger at the lack of SBMM as the cause, it was actually because of other preventable issues like technical debt, netcode issues, and a lack of progression features and content.
WARDOGS is another title that Call of Duty, and, to be honest, the entire industry, needs to learn from. WARDOGS succeeded because the developers didn’t treat its players like idiots. Joe Brammer, Bulkhead’s CEO, was blunt and honest about what they wanted to do with the game, and the results spoke for themselves.
Transparency is something that we’re seeing developers come forward with a lot now; hell, even Call of Duty has done it. But they need to do it more, and do it more aggressively.
Honestly? If I were a betting man, I’d bet that if Sledgehammer Games came out and said that they’re completely removing SBMM and had some cool activations during its marketing beat, it would be one of the most played Call of Duty games in recent years. Sledgehammer Games needs to be portrayed as the new cool kids on the block, who have let Treyarch and Infinity Ward do it for the last few years while they’ve been cooking.
The data might show that recent SBMM implementations work for player retention, but what’s the point if players are not flocking to the game anyway?
What do you think about Call of Duty and skill-based matchmaking? Do you think it should be removed? Leave your thoughts down in the comments, and join the official Insider Gaming Discord server.
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Tom Henderson is Insider Gaming's Co-Founder and Editor-In-Chief. When he's not running one of the industry's leading independent video game websites, he's probably playing an FPS like Call of Duty,…
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