Ex-Call of Duty Boss Blames Battlefield for Black Ops 7 Sales Slump, ARC Raiders Thrives

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 hasn’t lived up to the expectations Activision had for it, and the franchise’s ex-boss blames Battlefield 6.

Call of Duty and Battlefield have been competing for years now. Both want to be the most-popular first-person shooter and for the longest time it’s been Activision’s IP that’s secured victory time and time again.

2025 was a little different though as Call of Duty took possibly the biggest hit to its reputation in over a decade, which is saying a lot considering each new release brings its own form of controversy. In Black Ops 7’s case it was the singleplayer campaign that rubbed fans the wrong way, with many calling it laughable.

As for the multiplayer it was fine but nothing exceptional, which is how Battlefield 6 swooped in to take the win. While it’s lost a fair share of its playerbase Battlefield 6 still has more active players than Black Ops 7, and fans adored its new destruction physics and tight action gameplay when it launched.

Former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has since highlighted the game as one of the core reasons Black Ops 7 failed, saying the game is “on track to perform over 60 percent below last year because of intense competition from titles like Battlefield."

Kotick isn’t wrong, Battlefield 6 was a real return to form for the series, but like I said earlier its playercount has dropped just as significantly as the latest Call of Duty title.

That’s because a third player in the game, ARC Raiders, which has been thriving since launch and left both first-person shooters in the dust.

Embark Studios

It’s a surprise because ARC Raiders is not the kind of game you’d expect to compete with the likes of Battlefield and Call of Duty since it’s an extraction shooter. That said there’s no denying it’s been an important factor in both games losing players.

In my opinion the reason ARC Raiders is succeeding whilst Black Ops 7 and Battlefield 6 struggle to retain players is in the experience it gives its players. For many ARC Raiders has been a gateway into extraction shooters through viral content like clips of players using the in-game voice chat.

Call of Duty and Battlefield in comparison feel formulaic and while the scope and scale gets bigger with each new entry the core experience remains the same.

Call of Duty; Black Ops 7 has been stuck in a slump, but there’s more to it than Battlefield 6 simply being the better first-person shooter.