There is little to dispute when it comes to the overall success seen by the Call of Duty franchise. However, getting a look at the larger picture around the franchise, especially when it comes to its sales in the US, can often feel quite overwhelming. Circana analyst Mat Piscatella has revealed some interesting data points about Call of Duty, and how dominant it has been in the market just about every time it came out.
According to Piscatella, the last shooter to have beaten a Call of Duty game in terms of sales was all the way back in 2006 with the release of the original Gears of War on Xbox 360, which came out against Call of Duty 3. It is also worth noting that Gears of War was a third-person shooter, and the last time a first-person shooter was able to beat Call of Duty was 2005’s Star Wars: Battlefront 2, which came out against Call of Duty 2.
Since 2006, some game or another from the Call of Duty franchise has been leading the sales charts in the US for 13 out of 16 years. The three years where the franchise lost out against another title were 2013 with Grand Theft Auto 5, 2018 with Red Dead Redemption 2, and 2023 with Hogwarts Legacy. These three games were released to compete with Call of Duty: Ghosts, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 respectively.
Piscatella also noted that the market is worth paying attention to this year because “this part of the market hasn’t been this competitive in 20 years.” He also noted that the market being much more dynamic in modern times when compared to the last times Call of Duty lost out the top spot also makes things more interesting. This is thanks to the presence of live-service titles like Fortnite, as well as the presence of subscription services like Game Pass.
“Still have some big weeks of potential sales to come, but this part of the market hasn’t been this competitive in 20 years,” wrote Piscatella. “Twenty years! Wild. Anyways, source of the stats is Circana’s Retail Tracking Service.”
As for the competition that Call of Duty is seeing with its latest release – Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 – it largely comes from EA’s Battlefield 6, as well as Embark Studios’ ARC Raiders. Since its release earlier this month, Black Ops 7 has seen middling critical reception when it comes to its campaign. Criticisms about the campaign have even gotten harsh enough to where an update was released allowing players to skip the entire campaign to just start directly with the endgame content.
As for sales, while full figures for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 haven’t yet been revealed, we do have some regional data to look at. According to GSD, the physical and digital sales for the title in its launch week have been around 63 percent lower than they were for Battlefield 6. This comes after a strong debut in the market, snagging the number one spot in the European sales charts initially.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. For more details, check out our review. Also check out our thoughts on its boss fights.
The last Shooter genre game to outsell Call of Duty in the US market over a full year was Gears of War, in 2006. The last FPS to do so was Star Wars: Battlefront II a year prior.A Call of Duty game has been the US market’s best-seller in 13 of the past 16 years (GTAV, RDRII, Hogwarts Legacy).
— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-11-21T13:18:37.638Z
Still have some big weeks of potential sales to come, but this part of the market hasn’t been this competitive in 20 years.Twenty years!Wild.Anyways, source of the stats is Circana’s Retail Tracking Service.
— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-11-21T13:22:08.254Z
(And yes, the dynamic nature of the market in 2025, particularly with subscription services, Fortnite, etc, etc means that sales alone don’t tell the whole story. But I think it’s interesting.)
— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-11-21T13:26:16.377Z
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