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[Eurogamer] Call of Duty players switch off in their millions as Activision Blizzard posts revenue down 28% yoy.

Stacey

Stacey

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Call of Duty fans switch off in their millions

Call of Duty fans are switching off from the franchise, Activision's latest user figures suggest. Monthly active user d…
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Monthly active user data published by Activision shows player numbers have dipped over the past 12 months - from 127 million in June 2021 to just 94 million this year.

Overall figures for Activision Blizzard saw revenue down 28 percent year-on-year to $1.64bn, and overall total monthly active users down 12 percent despite growth from the Blizzard side of the business.
 
oni-link

oni-link

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Oct 25, 2017
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If only their install sizes could also drop from 127gb to 94gb
 
Iztok

Iztok

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Oct 27, 2017
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Vanguard is fine, but when you have 100M+ players not everyone will go for every type of COD.
Has nothing to do with the actual quality of the game.
 
Tortillo VI

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May 27, 2018
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Guess it makes sense:
  • Vanguard, from what I read, was trash.
  • Cold War, from what I personally played and from opinion, was trash.
  • Latest map for Warzone is not very good compared to Verdansk, from what I read.
  • Absurd install size.
  • Warzone 2 is announced and no communication on what will transfer over (if anything).
  • A sequel to the last truly good mainline game (IMO) is coming in a few months.
  • Pandemic lockdown effect likely fading.
Lack of interest on the current F2P iteration + expensive and weak mainline sequels since MW2019 + upcoming actually good game would turn off lots of people from keeping investing in what's currently available. Can't feel bad for them. Putting to many eggs in that basked and when it misfires everything tanks.
 
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Jinjo

Jinjo

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Nov 12, 2017
318
Fool me once (Cold War), shame on you. Fool me twice (Vanguard), shame on me.

Vanguard was very bad. That and their mishandling of Warzone (Bad new map, forcing of VG meta) makes this kinda expected. They are turning it around now with Fortune's keep and bringing back the guns everyone loved, but it's too little too late. Moved on to other games.
 
christocolus

christocolus

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Oct 27, 2017
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All these should be sorted over the coming year with new releases planned and I agree with the complaints about install sizes not being great. They are absurd and so are the monthly updates.
 
Snake Eater

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The last COD was probably the worst received COD game in years, I'm sure sales will rebound agains with MW
 

Voodoopeople

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Oct 29, 2017
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I shouldn't worry too much. The reasons are known, which is half the battle.

1. 2020 - 2022 were all global pandemic years, where gamer numbers and revenue would have been artificially inflated. If these figures are basically saying that they are back to where they were in 2019, that isn't actually as bad as the headline seems to suggest.

2. Vanguard - It was not well received. Everyone seems to know this. Particularly them.
 
GalvoAg

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They've have been going downhill for a while, Vanguard was just confirmation for me that I'm out for good.
 
Dog

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Oct 25, 2017
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Caldera is shit and I hate WW2 guns and operators. I haven't played as much, though rebirth/fortunes keep now and then is fun.

Roll on WZ2.
 
Megabreath

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Oct 25, 2018
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100 million? Never knew it was that high, i can see why they are keeping it multiplatform now
 
Cogg

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Oct 27, 2017
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As somebody who couldn't be more indifferent towards CoD and hasnt bought one in years I know I'll be there for Warzone 2 and MW2. So yeah, the numbers about crank back up a bit.
 
Thera

Thera

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Spork4000 said:
It just says that it dropped below 100 million in 2019, not specifics.
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Activision monthly active users have not fallen this low - or below 100 million - since 2019, when Call of Duty Mobile arrived on the scene.
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OK fine, maybe it's poorly written.
The release of CoD Mobile make MAU going above 100 M.
The pandemic, or the effect of it on the world, was in 2020. So 2019 results are pre pandemic.
 
Carian Knight

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Oct 27, 2017
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After Modern Warfare 2019 they clearly didn't expect it to be that big of a soft reboot of the franchise lack of forward planning was so obvious.
  • Cold War felt like an "old CoD" with some new gimmicks. For CoD's standards MW19 was a technical marvel however Treyarch's own engine wasn't cutting it.
  • They clearly planned Warzone as a one of thing, it wasn't meant to sustain multiple games and big content updates therefore every update required you to download a AAA game size file.
  • On top of "update" nightmares, Warzone was tied to MW19's core systems so it made it impossible to reduce actual game the size.
  • Warzone after MW19's run ended immediately became bloated it was a crazy idea to add ALL of the guns of CW and Vanguard. Balancing it was impossible. Also, the new core map updates weren't great.
  • Cold War at least sold well because of Treyarch's brand power however Sledgehammer without Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey was not in the same league as the other two CoD studios on top of that Vanguard was really and I mean REALLY a boring idea. (First CoD I haven't bought since CoD4)
  • On top of all that announcing MWII and Warzone 2 early hit the final nail in the coffin.
 
Edward

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Oct 30, 2017
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Honestly Vanguard and the absolute staleness of Warzone 2 ( i still think Warzone 1's mechanics is hands down one of the best BR to ever hit the market) drove me to playing other games. I can't think of maybe 1-2 other COD's that i dropped as fast as Vanguard and i dropped Vanguard the week it came out.
 
digit_zero

digit_zero

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Oct 27, 2017
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Spork4000 said:
What was it pre-pandemic?
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It's probably worth noting there really isn't a good comparison point for users pre pandemic since this includes the mainline game + mobile + Warzone, the last two of which being the lion share of users.

Comparing it prior to the pandemic you have maybe one quarter of mobile being active and Warzone didn't exist until the pandemic - so the numbers prior to and post pandemic are not very analogous.
 
greetdeath

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Oct 27, 2017
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Two years of alternating additional support for Cold War and Modern Warfare and scrapping Vanguard would've been the best option. I still play Cold War a lot but everytime I try Vanguard I quit within minutes.
 
BradleyLove

BradleyLove

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Oct 29, 2017
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My mates and I have finally bounced off Warzone. SBMM is utterly broken at this point with every lobby being an utter sweatfest. The mechanics of Warzone have in a lot of ways changed horribly and enable loadout camping. Caldera is an awful map for traversal, such that they had to introduce redeploy balloons (Peak is an abomination). Viability is piss-poor, and the abundance of try-hard, dark costumes exacerbate the problem. And of course, players camping in bushes. At least camping a building makes tactical sense. And Ricochet anti-cheat doesn't work.
 

Patrese86

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Jun 6, 2021
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Vanguard wasn't very good. Warzone gone downhill with Caldera. Most play rebirth now or fortunes keep
 

GaussianMultivariate

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Jul 26, 2018
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Polk said:
Yeah, lot of people just doesn't want play WW2 games.
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Dog said:
Caldera is shit and I hate WW2 guns and operators. I haven't played as much, though rebirth/fortunes keep now and then is fun.

Roll on WZ2.
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AHA-Lambda said:
Yeah cos Vanguard was a mistake
I'm still amazed ATVI signed off on another WW2 title
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Agreed, I think modern settings is where war games are at these days
 
EricTheGamerman

EricTheGamerman

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Aug 12, 2019
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Tortillo VI said:
Guess it makes sense:
  • Vanguard, from what I read, was trash.
  • Cold War, from what I personally played and from opinion, was trash.
  • Latest map for Warzone is not very good compared to Verdansk, from what I read.
  • Absurd install size.
  • Warzone 2 is announced and no communication on what will transfer over (if anything).
  • A sequel to the last truly good mainline game (IMO) is coming in a few months.
  • Pandemic lockdown effect likely fading.
Lack of interest on the current F2P iteration + expensive and weak mainline sequels since MW2019 + upcoming actually good game would turn off lots of people from keeping investing in what's currently available. Can't feel bad for them. Putting to many eggs in that basked and when it misfires everything tanks.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Cold War shouldn't really factor into this, it was incredibly popular and sold tons of copies while people remained interested in War zone despite all the dumb decisions around it during Cold War's lifespan. A lot of longtime COD players preferred its MP to MW's much faster and "realistic" gameplay and map design. Plus it more or less revived a major Zombies community for at least a few months. It didn't reach the sales of MW IIRC, but it was very successful and had legs throughout its lifespan. And all that for a super rushed product Treyarch and Raven stapled together in a year and a half.

You'd see a decrease, but this is almost entirely on Vanguard's shoulders to see one this big.
 
Lobster Roll

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Sep 24, 2019
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BradleyLove said:
My mates and I have finally bounced off Warzone. SBMM is utterly broken at this point with every lobby being an utter sweatfest. The mechanics of Warzone have in a lot of ways changed horribly and enable loadout camping. Caldera is an awful map for traversal, such that they had to introduce redeploy balloons (Peak is an abomination). Viability is piss-poor, and the abundance of try-hard, dark costumes exacerbate the problem. And of course, players camping in bushes. At least camping a building makes tactical sense. And Ricochet anti-cheat doesn't work.
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Wow are you part of my old Warzone squad? Haha this is like exactly why we dropped the game overall.
 
DuvalDevil

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Nov 18, 2020
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Stacey said:
www.eurogamer.net

Call of Duty fans switch off in their millions

Call of Duty fans are switching off from the franchise, Activision's latest user figures suggest. Monthly active user d…
www.eurogamer.net www.eurogamer.net

Monthly active user data published by Activision shows player numbers have dipped over the past 12 months - from 127 million in June 2021 to just 94 million this year.

Overall figures for Activision Blizzard saw revenue down 28 percent year-on-year to $1.64bn, and overall total monthly active users down 12 percent despite growth from the Blizzard side of the business.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Don't worry. They'll be back with MW2.
 
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