THE CRUNCH

Early US engagement figures suggest Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launched to a smaller active player base than last year's Black Ops 7. Market analysis firm Circana tracks player activity in the US across Steam and PlayStation, and worldwide on Xbox. Its analyst Mat Piscatella reported that 19 percent of PlayStation players played Modern Warfare 4 in the week ending 24th October, alongside 17 percent on Xbox and 4.2 percent on Steam.

Those figures are down on Black Ops 7's launch week everywhere except Steam, where last year's game managed just 1.5 percent. Black Ops 7 had drawn 23 percent engagement on PlayStation and 29 percent on Xbox. One likely factor on Xbox is that Modern Warfare 4 skipped a day-one release on Game Pass, and Black Ops 7 was the second and last Call of Duty to launch day-and-date on the subscription. Game Pass availability typically boosts player numbers, though not always sales.

The PlayStation drop is harder to explain. Circana's data suggests it could be a side effect of the well-received Black Ops 1 & 2 ports released in the summer on PS4 and PS5, which pulled back lapsed players who may have lost interest in modern Call of Duty regardless of Modern Warfare 4's quality.

It is not a disaster by any measure. The game landed in the top 10 on all three platforms that week, sitting just below Fortnite on PlayStation. SteamDB figures also point to a softer launch than recent entries, and even Activision's post-launch messaging has shifted: Xbox CEO Asha Sharma issued a single statement that did not name the game, celebrating "$40bn in lifetime franchise revenue" for the franchise.