Since 2007, without fail, Call of Duty has released a yearly title, and for a period of time in the 2010s, so did its main competitor, Battlefield, the latter of which took a hiatus before returning earlier this year with Battlefield 6.
Only real ones will remember Christmas Day lobbies with an influx of Level 1 players and Double XP all weekend long on whatever the annual COD was.
Each of those years, thousands of kids, teenagers and adults have made either Call of Duty or Battlefield their biggest wish for Christmas, often leading to a massive influx of new players on Christmas Day, their wishes seemingly fulfilled.
Yeah, about that…
Judging by available player count data on SteamDB, it seems like Christmas has done little to help reignite either Battlefield 6 or Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, both of which have struggled with player concurrents either at launch (Black Ops 7) or in the months following (Battlefield 6).
Battlefield 6 Player Numbers At An All-Time Low After Failed Winter Offensive Update
The Winter Offensive update has not been very well received. Understandbly so. Quite a lot of the game feels broken.
The end result is two live-service games that are seemingly chugging along with a very muted player base.
Both Titles Have Been On Deep Discount, And It Seems To Have Had Little Impact
As of this writing, 70,527 players are actively playing Battlefield 6, up from the mid 40,000s that the game had been dipping into just a few days before. Its 24-hour peak sits at 99,369, a far cry from the all-time peak of 747,440 players that showed up on launch.
When it comes to Christmas Day itself, the game did manage to shoot from roughly 75,000 players to just under 100,000. However, within a matter of hours that figure cratered back to its normal trends.
On the Black Ops 7 side of things, 44,396 players are currently engaged with the game. Specifically, 44,396 players are engaged in some way with the Call of Duty app, as that’s where everything is housed.
It’s unclear just how much of that is on Black Ops 7, but given the poor reviews, it’s safe to assume not a ton.
Black Ops 7’s 24-hour peak is 51,017 players, and between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, things didn’t quite peak due to a new influx of players. In fact, if you look at things over a week-long breakdown, the game was more popular nearly a week ago on Sunday (62,442 players) than it is right now.
Leading up to Christmas, Black Ops 7 was as much as 50 percent off its Recommended Retail Price, something that historically has almost never happened. Meanwhile, Battlefield 6 was a major recipient of sales during Black Friday, and even right now is on sale at various retailers for as low as $39.99.
Short of giving the game away for free, it’s unclear just what more either Battlefield 6 or Black Ops 7 has to do to return to the good graces of video games. Based on the above player counts, it doesn’t sound like many gamers were asking Santa for either title.
- Released
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October 10, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, In-App Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
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Battlefield Studios
Asking Santa For A Pokemon Game Makes Me Feel Like A Kid Again
Trying to convince Santa to help me catch ’em all for Christmas has me feeling nostalgic.
