Call of Duty Black Ops 7 began its retail life in the United Kingdom with a quieter physical debut than Battlefield 6, according to industry data disclosed by The Game Business Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder Chris Dring. In a post shared on social media, Dring stated that “Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 had a smaller UK retail launch (physical sales) than Battlefield 6 (GfK data).”
When someone asked how the game stacked up against its predecessor, Black Ops 6, Dring gave a concise answer: a “-61%” figure. Some users tried to explain this drop by pointing to the general shift toward digital buying, noting that most of the series’ audience now heavily favors online stores. However, Dring immediately challenged that idea by quoting the percentage again and asking, “61 percent… year on year isn’t surprisingly?” His comments made it clear just how drastic the slide looks when measured only by physical retail copies, even if the franchise is still performing well digitally.
Black Ops 7 came out on November 14, 2025, as a cross-generation title for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, and it was a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. The game moves the Black Ops storyline ahead to the year 2035, featuring a co-op campaign in the destroyed city of Avalon. Players link back up with David Mason and his squad to fight a new mind-controlling enemy and deal with the return of Raul Menendez. True to the franchise, the game offers the usual three main modes: a campaign that includes an Endgame extraction mode, a competitive multiplayer section with better movement mechanics called Omnimovement, and the comeback of round-based Zombies.
The numbers Dring shared are part of a trend that has been happening for a few years now. Back in 2024, Black Ops 6 saw a ten percent drop in its launch week compared to Modern Warfare III, a change mostly due to it being released on Xbox Game Pass at the same time. PlayStation sales were still the biggest, reportedly making up three-quarters of all sales, while physical Xbox numbers fell because of the subscription option. Even though these games keep bringing in huge player bases, the old retail numbers are not the best way to measure overall interest anymore. Physical sales don’t show the full picture of how well a franchise is doing, but people in the industry still track them to see how buying habits are changing.
