Black Ops 6 may have even less players than we thought
ActivisionIt’s no secret that Black Ops 6 and Warzone are suffering from a declining player count crisis, but it’s worse than initially thought.
BO6 became the “biggest Call of Duty ever,” surpassing every previous series entry in total players, hours played, and total matches during the first 30 days after launch. However, during December Warzone lost over 102,000 players, or 32.6% of its player base on Steam.
Meanwhile, BO6 went from a peak of 315,000 concurrent players on Steam at launch to a peak of just over 100,000 in late December. Content creators like Nadeshot blamed cheating and performance issues for the massive dip in interest. And former CoD pro Scump and others are scared about the franchise’s future as conditions aren’t improving.
You wouldn’t be able to notice CoD’s struggles based on the player count numbers, but there is more to these figures than meets the eye.
BO6 players unconvinced by misleading player count number
CharlieIntel reported, “Call of Duty was the most played game on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S in the US for the week ending December 21.”
CoD was also the sixth most-played game on Steam during this window. CoD content creator JGOD asked how this was possible, given the Steam player count experienced a harsh nosedive.
Fellow YouTuber HunterTV explained the discrepancy and said, “The COD HQ is lowkey a big brain move cause if people are on MW2, MW3, BO6, or Warzone it counts.”
So even though CoD was the most played game, that’s the data from four different titles instead of just one like Fortnite and Marvel Rivals, who trail right behind.
“And this is why Warzone will never improve,” a third player claimed. That commenter argued this because the perceived high player count gives the development team less incentive to make significant changes because it appears that both games are doing well.
Thankfully, Raven Software promised wide-sweeping Warzone changes in the new year, which could be what the battle royale needs to restore faith from the frustrated player base.