Call of Duty 2026 launches with historically low peak player count

Call of Duty had a lot to prove in 2025. Not only did it compete with Battlefield 6 and Arc Raiders, but it also had the task of recovering from the post-launch controversy of Black Ops 6. Moving away from the silly cartoon skins was a step in the right direction, but the exotic co-op campaign and AI calling cards quickly won Treyarch a bit of goodwill.

And already, we're back to crossovers with Fallout.

Even with a free weekend, 50 percent off, and the best Zombies mod in a decade, Activision can't salvage last year's disappointment. Launcher, Black Ops 7, Warzone, and Black Ops 6 now has a 24-hour peak of just 52,632 players, the lowest in its history.

To put that figure into perspective, Call of Duty is now the 44th most played game on Steam, ranking behind Battlefield 6 — which is also hemorrhaging players — VRChat, Dead by Daylight, Rainbow Six Siege X, Team Fortress 2, Alden Ring Nightrin, Marvel Rivals, and Raiders.

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

Call of Duty Launcher Peak Player Count Chart Showing Steady Decline to 2026

Usually, during the holiday season, there is an influx of new players; That's why Activision urges us to go easy on Christmas noobs. However, the game actually declined in December – a month after launch – dropping to its lowest ever of 43,569 players. While today's peak is marginally higher, it's part of a much more pronounced decline, indicating interest in the series after 2019 is at a record-low.

Future seasons could give Black Ops 7 a new lease on life, but considering post-launch content has already failed to draw players back, that seems unlikely. Once again, it's up to this year's Call of Duty to win over the community, but this time, Infinity Ward is competing with GTA 6, 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 chasm to climb out of.