CoD’s numbers are drastically declining. But is it really that bad?

Here we are again. The Call of Duty cycle has reached the “this game sucks, I’m done” portion. Has it already been a year?

Black Ops 6 launched in October 2024 with very positive reviews for the game’s campaign, multiplayer based around omnimovement fun, and Zombies with multiple maps and a satisfying grind for unlocks and camos. Less than three months later, the game is on fire and the franchise is coming to an end… or so reading social media would have you think.

CoD has now lost all of the players it gained on Steam with the launch of BO6. But that’s a very sensational talking point—because this happens basically every year. A new game comes out, players buy it and hop on, some stay while others leave, and then more move on to different things, especially during the extended holiday break when there is little communication from the developers and no new content.

This year’s holiday break comes smack in the middle of season one, meaning that the wait for season two feels much longer than most. If you couple that with a massive new game launch in Marvel Rivals, along with the fact that many of the most hardcore players are fed up with the ongoing cheating issues in Ranked Play and many have already completed camos and Prestige levels, it makes everything feel worse than it actually is.

Activision really does need to hammer out the issues with RICOCHET Anti-Cheat, server lag, desync, and other bugs in the game. That’s a given. But from the most dedicated to the most casual, taking breaks and then returning to CoD is nothing new.

As a live-service game, CoD is always going to be filled with peaks and valleys. This is true for its player counts, its content schedule, and its overall “vibes” around the community. Right now, it feels like vibes haven’t been this bad in a while, and that’s making everything feel worse.

But the issue with that is that those who are speaking out about CoD’s issues are a vocal minority. The players who are dedicated enough to go on social media to complain about the game are still a fraction of those playing CoD, and they make up a smaller portion of the overall player count than you would think. And that’s exacerbated by top players and streamers, who play games for eight-to-12 hours a day, moving on to different games for the time being after complaining for weeks.

Not to mention the overreaction to Steam player numbers can’t be overstated since CoD is largely still a console game. It was STILL the most-played game on Xbox and second most-played game on PlayStation in December. Plus, it’s also available on Battle.net, so Steam is just another portion of a portion.

Burnout is possible, too. If you play only CoD and nothing but CoD, it’s going to get old eventually (not for everyone; some people ONLY play CoD), and that’s to be expected. But no matter how doom and gloom the current state of the game feels, it has been worse in the past. MWII and Vanguard were low points for many, and the franchise has still continued on in stride.

When season two launches on Jan. 28, the player count in CoD will pick up again across all platforms. Players will hop online to play new maps, new Warzone features, and potentially a new Zombies map. Once the fun has worn off for the majority, they will move on and the player count will drop again until season three kicks off and Warzone likely adds the classic Verdansk map that seemingly most players miss dearly. And so the cycle will continue.

For those who are truly fed up with the game’s current faults and issues, the only way to truly voice their complaints is to stop playing, not return for seasonal drops, and not buy any season passes or store bundles. Until then, it’s safe to expect the ebb and flow of the CoD cycle to go on for the foreseeable future.