CoD Black Ops 7 Sales Drop Analysis | SBMM Issues, Failed Campaign, And Battlefield 6 Competition
Posted: Nov 22, 2025 Views: 52
Call of Duty series is one of the most successful FPAS game franchises, boasting a massive global fanbase, with some players having enjoyed the series for over 20 years.
However, the latest installment, Black Ops 7, has performed poorly in terms of sales. Its physical sales have plummeted by 61% compared to its predecessors, a truly staggering figure. Furthermore, unlike the hype surrounding Black Ops 6, Modern Warfare 3, and Modern Warfare 2, the publisher hasn't promoted the game's release figures as aggressively, further suggesting a significant commercial setback for CoD Black Ops 7.
So what exactly caused this poor sales performance? Besides competitors, the game's quality and the developer's failure to deliver on promises have also played a role.

Market Competition
Battlefield, a competitor of Call of Duty, has been making high-profile announcements, claiming Battlefield 6 will be the number one FPS game and the best-selling shooter of 2025, and thanking players for bringing Battlefield back.
Game industry analysts' data shows that Battlefield 6 is not only the best-selling shooter of 2025, but also the top-selling game across all genres in 2025. Black Ops 7 didn't even make the list.
However, this sales chart is based on data up to November 1st, before Black Ops 7's official release. Therefore, this chart doesn't fully reflect the final performance throughout the year.
Another statistic on this chart is more convincing: Battlefield 6's revenue in its first month of release was the highest of any game in the past three years. The last game to surpass it in first-month revenue was Modern Warfare 2.
Black Ops 7 still has Black Friday and Christmas sales seasons to contend with, but Battlefield 6 has already established a significant lead, and CoD's competitors this year aren't limited to Battlefield. ARC Raiders, released at the end of October, has also attracted a considerable number of players with its exquisite graphics and excellent quality. Overall, its chances of a comeback are slim.
Campaign Mode
Black Ops 7's Campaign mode was widely considered utterly terrible by players, not only one of the worst in Call of Duty series but also among the worst in all shooters.
Even though Campaign mode provided a significant amount of XP for rapid leveling, its extremely low ratings meant almost no players were willing to play it. Players preferred to take time in multiplayer, Zombies, or leveling up in CoD Black Ops 7 bot lobbies rather than playing Campaign mode.
Furthermore, Endgame mode, originally intended to be unlocked only after completing the campaign, was made free for everyone less than a week after the game's release, further demonstrating the campaign mode's failure.
To salvage the situation, the developers implemented a reward program. Players who played the campaign before November 21st could receive:
- 3 hours of double XP
- Double Weapon XP
- Double Battle Pass XP
- 3 Perkaholic Gobblegums
Nuketown 2025
The classic map Nuketown has returned, a classic map present in almost every Call of Duty game.
However, Black Ops 7 is set in 2035. This raises a logical question: why would players in 2035 be fighting on a map styled after 10 years (2025)? The development team didn't update the map to fit the game's future theme.
This actually confirms an early rumor that Black Ops 7 was originally planned to launch with remastered versions of all Black Ops 2 maps, similar to Modern Warfare 3. However, later plans changed, resulting in the retention of some legacy content, such as Nuketown 2025, that didn't align with the final design.
SBMM Controversy
Before the release of Black Ops 7, the developers announced a new matchmaking system to minimize the impact of SBMM. This new system prioritized network connection quality and quickly matched players of varying skill levels, providing a casual gaming experience.
This new system performed well in the Beta, boasting extremely fast matchmaking, very low and stable ping, and accurate hit detection.
However, after the official release, some players reported significantly longer matchmaking times, ranging from 30 seconds to 1 minute, unstable ping, and frequent high latency. Hit detection deteriorated, and packet bursts became more frequent. Most matches felt more challenging, with player skill levels seemingly being intentionally matched.
Furthermore, even if a player performs exceptionally well in a match, they might be kicked from their current Persistent Lobbies and required to re-match, contradicting the initial No Disbanding Lobbies claim.
Therefore, players believe the developers lied about Open Matchmaking feature. They believe the official matchmaking mode isn't Classic Matchmaking advertised, and that a strong SBMM (Skill-Based Matchmaking) is still operating behind the scenes.
This ambiguity stems from the developers' use of the "minimum considerations for SBMM" claim in their advertising, which allows for interpretation. This minimum could be 5% or 49%, it's unclear, and players can't verify it.
Games like Battlefield 6, which truly don't have SBMM, offer a significantly more casual and diverse experience than Black Ops 7. This might be due to a large influx of casual players to Battlefield 6, or perhaps Black Ops 7 still retains protected tiers for new players.
Despite optimizations in multiplayer mode, players' feelings about CoD BO7 are similar to its predecessor. While its technology is top-notch in the industry, if it cannot satisfy players in terms of gameplay, then Call of Duty series may not be able to maintain its appeal to players.
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