Pre-orders for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 appear to be off to a slow start, according to data from the PlayStation Store. The next installment in the Call of Duty series is already facing heavy backlash from the community, and with Battlefield 6 poised to be a major hit, Black Ops 7 will need to pull out all the stops if it wants to remain the top first-person shooter.
For the first time in four years, Battlefield and Call of Duty are set to go head-to-head this fall. While it will be a long time before we know which shooter is going to come out on top, Battlefield 6 is already off to a flying start. Publisher EA and developer DICE were forced to go back to the drawing board after the disastrous launch of Battlefield 2042 in 2021, but the two studios appear to have taken fan feedback on board as the open beta for Battlefield 6 has already broken records for the franchise, becoming the biggest beta in the series’ history.
Black Ops 7 Pre-Orders Are Off to a Slow Start
While Battlefield 6 is already off to a flying start, it looks like the same can’t be said for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. Although there isn’t any official data on the game’s number of pre-orders, it was recently noticed by CharlieIntel that Black Ops 7 is the first entry in the Call of Duty series to not top the PlayStation pre-order charts after its announcement. Instead, it looks like the next entry in the series is currently being beaten by Battlefield 6’s Phantom Edition and Standard Edition.
To anybody who has been paying attention to the two series, this likely won’t come as much of a surprise. In its first few days, the Battlefield 6 open beta overtook Call of Dutyin all-time concurrent players on Steam by more than 30,000 users. While Call of Duty peaked at just over 491,000 concurrent players nearly 3 years ago, the Battlefield 6 open beta managed to soar past that number, peaking at more than 521,000. While it might not seem like much, a beta achieving such a high number of players on one singular platform is incredibly impressive.
For years now, Call of Duty has not only been the king of the first-person shooter genre, it’s dominated the entire gaming charts. But with pre-orders seemingly low and continued controversy around Black Ops 6’s unrealistic cosmetic items and skins, fans appear to be eager for a more realistic and grounded shooter.
Fans have also been making their voices heard in the comments section of the Black Ops 7 reveal trailer, with hundreds of comments stating that they’re going to be pre-ordering Battlefield 6 instead. If the community stays true to its word, this could be the first year that Battlefield takes the throne from Call of Duty.
