It has been no secret that Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 hasn’t been as successful as the other games in the franchise. According to Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty, however, the title has still managed to be the most-played game on Xbox. In an interview with Variety, Booty was asked about Black Ops 7, its middling reception, and the problems that it might be facing.
To this, Booty responds by noting that he has been proud of Treyarch and Activision for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. He also spoke about how difficult it tends to be to release a new game in a major franchise on a yearly basis.
“Right now, it is one of the most-played games on Xbox,” said Booty. “And I’m really proud of what the team did, in terms of feature innovation, moving the franchise forward. Shipping a major franchise like clockwork every year is a really difficult task, and I’m really proud of what the team did to move the franchise forward in that way.”
Ultimately, Booty seems to be quite optimistic about the future of the franchise despite the stumbles faced by Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. He noted that the game is still positioned well as a live-service offering, and that it will continue to get new content through post-launch updates.
“And the interesting thing about Call of Duty is, I think that as an IP, it is really well positioned to continue to deliver content for players going forward; the system of seasons. And it’s not just about the launch, but it’s kind of in its own unique category and ability in terms of how the team keeps delivering content throughout the year. So we’re real happy with where we’ve landed with that,” he said.
Analysts have noted that Call of Duty: Black Ops 7’s generally poorer reception comes down to few key things, including major competition in the genre, as well as a few poor decisions that were made during the title’s development. Alinea Analytics’ Rhys Elliot spoke about how games like ARC Raiders and Battlefield 6 have been seeing incredible amounts of success, while Fortnite continues to dominate the charts. Call of Duty players, however, have had to contend with some alienation from Activision through the addition of Fortnite-styled cosmetic items like non-military character skins.
“Players have expressed growing dissatisfaction with CoD‘s lack of innovation, feeling that the franchise is ailing. The introduction of Fortnite-like cosmetic items like non-military character skins (Beavis and Butthead, Nicki Minaj) has alienated a significant portion of the fanbase who prefer a more grounded military aesthetic. The co-op campaign was a major point of criticism. It was uneven and tedious when played solo, while also requiring an always-online connection. It also drew controversy and ire for its use of AI slop in game.”
Activision had also announced earlier this year that it will stop doing back-to-back releases for the various sub-series’ under the overall Call of Duty franchise. This means that we won’t see sequels to the Black Ops or Modern Warfare series released in consecutive years, like we did with last year’s Black Ops 6 and this year’s Black Ops 7. Rather, the company plans to give its developers more time, likely by alternating the sub-series’ under Call of Duty as it continues its yearly release cadence for the franchise.
For more details, check out our review of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, which is out on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.