We've pretty well known all along that Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 did not live up to expectations. While I personally enjoyed (mostly) Black Ops 7 and there was no shortage of content, it didn't do well.
Battlefield 6 launching before Black Ops 7 didn't help, neither did the fact it was a back-to-back Black Ops release cycle, coming after back-to-back Modern Warfare titles.
In an interview with The Game Business, Activision's Chief Marketing Officer, Tyler Bahl, admitted that it didn't perform well and that it wasn't what players were looking for. A couple of key quotes:
“I don’t think we were happy with every aspect of last year’s game, and we heard the feedback loud and clear. With Modern Warfare 4, we’ve tried to adjust based on that feedback. It’s getting back to a grounded military shooter. Making it cinematic, making it authentic, and bringing that edge back that Call of Duty is known for.”
"It was not something that our community was looking for. They wanted something fresh, and even though there were different time settings, and ways to play the game with new features, that tonal shift is something that they were looking for."
I've spoken before of Call of Duty fatigue, and to me it's personified by the sheer quantity of Black Ops and Modern Warfare games in recent memory. Aside from Vanguard, eight of the last nine Call of Duty games have been either Black Ops or Modern Warfare.
As we're already expecting, Call of Duty 2027 is set to be a new sub-franchise spearheaded by Sledgehammer Games. It certainly feels refreshing to have something completely new to look forward to.
Early signs for Modern Warfare 4 are positive, though. At least, speaking personally. DMZ is looking really interesting; the campaign will absolutely be better than last year's game, and the movement and mechanics we experienced in the beta I thought were pretty good.
The uphill battle Activision faces is the slide in player sentiment and, as a result, player retention. Bahl talks in the interview about nostalgia, lest we forget how successful the Black Ops and Black Ops 2 ports were on PS5.
But he also acknowledges that the teams working on Call of Duty have to be part of the community. They need to listen to players, they need to engage with players and they need to be more transparent. He points to the widespread appearance of the game at public events, putting the game in as many people's hands as possible before it comes out and letting them form their own opinion. Rather than parroting that of the internet echo chamber.
The other interesting point I pulled from the interview was Bahl's remarks on how Modern Warfare 4 will be judged a success or not:
"We’re not really holding ourselves to a specific number. It’s more about living up to those expectations that we set out at the beginning of the year... Because even if it delivers on sales, if people don’t like the game, we’ve missed the mark.”
I really want to believe that player satisfaction is a priority metric. But we need to see it play out that way. We've had two years of Call of Duty on Xbox Game Pass, which instigated a price increase and then a price decrease and the removal of the franchise from being added during its first year.
Revenue from sales was a driving factor. Game Pass players don't pay full price; even if they subscribe for a year, not all that money is attributable to Call of Duty. Revenue dropped, but then we also have Black Ops 6 experiencing a record launch.
Let's just say I'm skeptical. But I'm prepared to give Activision a chance to live up to it. Whether you enjoy the game or not, it's easy to look at it as an $80 storefront for skins, with a video game attached to it.
I want Modern Warfare 4 to be good. I want it to do well, and I want Call of Duty to get back to being the biggest and best there is. Only time will tell.
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