Black Ops 7’s First-Day Peak Misses Battlefield 6’s Mark
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 launched with strong anticipation, but its early Steam numbers landed below expectations. Within its first 24 hours, the game reached a peak of 89,595 concurrent players, significantly lower than Battlefield 6’s most recent 24-hour peak of 271,307 players.
While Activision’s latest FPS arrived a month after Battlefield 6, it also launched alongside a major Call of Duty: Warzone update. Even with the boost that usually comes from franchise synergy, Black Ops 7’s opening day didn’t match its key competitor’s momentum. At launch, its Steam reviews reflected mixed reception, sitting at 58% positive.
Mixed Reviews and Player Backlash
Much of the early criticism focused on the game’s campaign mode, which requires a constant Internet connection and offers no pause function, even during solo play. This led to widespread frustration from players who expected traditional single-player flexibility.
Additionally, Black Ops 7 was review-bombed following claims that Activision used AI-generated artwork for several Calling Cards. The controversy intensified community discussions and further affected the game’s early perception on Steam.
Battlefield 6 Maintains Strong Momentum
Although Battlefield 6 is well past its launch window, the title continues to maintain a healthy Steam presence. Despite dropping from its all-time peak of 747,440 players, the game still delivered a 24-hour peak of 271,307 players between November 14 and 15—over three times higher than Black Ops 7 during its launch day.
For now, Battlefield 6 remains the stronger performer on Valve’s platform, with updates such as bug fixes and new content keeping the player base active.
ARC Raiders Surges Ahead of Both Shooters
Even the combined 24-hour totals of Black Ops 7 and Battlefield 6—360,902 players—were surpassed by another emerging competitor. Embark Studios’ ARC Raiders reached an impressive all-time peak of 462,488 players on November 9 and was still sitting at 390,201 current players at the time of reporting.
This means ARC Raiders beat the combined FPS totals of both major franchises by nearly 30,000 players, highlighting a surprising surge in popularity for the sci-fi extraction shooter.
Steam Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story
It’s important to note that Steam numbers only represent a fraction of Black Ops 7’s total player base. With the title being available through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, console and cloud players likely make up a substantial portion of its audience.
How Black Ops 7 performs across all platforms will become clearer in the coming days, but on Steam alone, the game’s launch has been noticeably weaker than expected.
