After the massive success that was the Battlefield 6 beta, including exceeding over 300,000 players during its Early Access beta period, all eyes have shifted toward Call of Duty and how players would respond to Black Ops 7’s beta.
It turns out, not that good.
Black Ops 7 Will Likely Still Sell Millions, But The Early Numbers Are Worrisome
As first spotted by Insider Gaming, Black Ops 7, which is set to release later this year on November 14, is currently undergoing its beta period, beginning with an Early Access period from October 2–5 for those who’ve pre-ordered the game or have a sub to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, though dozens of codes have been floating around. After that, the Open Beta period will begin for everyone else.
That said, a cursory look at SteamDB shows that Call of Duty has peaked at 74,698 players over the last 24 hours, up from the 35,000 or so it’s been maintaining prior to the beta. At the time of writing, 46,385 players are currently active.
It’s worth noting that this is the Call of Duty hub as a whole, meaning there’s a good chance that several thousand players are not actively engaging with Black Ops 7 and instead are playing a separate game. Also, the “Early Access” phase is limited, so the numbers might be a tad bit skewed, but seeing the number of codes floating around, plus it being open for pre-orders does make things a bit more worrisome.
Perhaps most noteworthy is the fact that Treyarch’s Senior Director of Production, Yale Miller, recently spoke about the fear of franchise fatigue stemming from there being Black Ops titles in back-to-back years. For its part, Activision has attempted to get into the good graces of fans by redesigning its pre-order skins and revealing that “Carry Forward” wouldn’t be supported, thus limiting the amount of unrealistic collabs at launch.
Whether those fears come true or those moves are enough to sway fans remains to be seen, but the early returns aren’t pretty.
- Released
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November 14, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Drugs
