Call of Duty had the worst year in a long time and is now in an even worse position than after CoD Vanguard

MeinMMO editor Maik Schneider has been accompanying Call of Duty for over 3.5 years and had high hopes for Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2. 6 months and 2 major disappointments later, the shooter franchise has fewer players than after CoD Vanguard.

Call of Duty has been with me for about 15 years of my life. Before my work at MeinMMO, it was rather in the background noise. Since CoD MW 2019, it has been my job.

And it was really fun in 2020.

The reboot of Modern Warfare was very well received and ran steadily with high player numbers and much interest from the community for over six months. When we at MeinMMO noticed that interest was waning, suddenly CoD Warzone (and the Corona lockdown) came.

Call of Duty practically exploded.

Publisher Activision then celebrated the peak in Q1 2021. In the quarterly report, they were able to celebrate 150 million “Monthly Active Users” (MAUs). To this day, the highest value for Activision in such a report. But since then, things have been declining.

And if you ask me, CoD is currently having its worst year in a long time.

Currently, Season 3 of Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2 is underway. You can watch the short trailer here:

MW2: Big name, but fewer players than in the Vanguard era

Why is the current year so bad? Let’s first look at the bare numbers. The latest report does show strong revenue figures – CoD was able to increase nearly 30% in the comparison period (via activision.com).

But the player numbers tell a different story:

• As of March 31, 2022, the report counted 100 million MAUs
• As of March 31, 2023, the report counted 98 million MAUs

The numbers are still impressive compared to other games. The report provides a context. The business segment “Blizzard” with its big titles WoW, Diablo, and Overwatch had 27 million MAUs in March 2023.

However, the fact that Call of Duty currently has fewer players than in the Q1-2022 report already indicates that something went wrong this year.

At least with Modern Warfare 2, we got the successor from CoD MW 2019 that fans demanded and achieved a record release. With Warzone 2, a new version of the mega-successful Battle Royale also came.

In addition, Vanguard, the premium CoD before Modern Warfare 2, was considered rather disappointing for those responsible at Activision and was back then one of the reasons given for the declining player numbers.

The technology killed my hype

What happened there? Let’s forget the numbers and look at the situation from a player’s perspective. Someone like me, who tends to get hyped and actually looks forward to a new Call of Duty every year.

For me, it was the worst year in a long time, and it was due to the technical condition.

The first days of CoD MW2 were plagued by a nasty social bug. You could only invite friends awkwardly and after almost every match, someone was kicked from the group. In addition, the shooter started completely without a stats menu – a standard feature was simply missing at release.

Bugs in the game still sometimes cause me to close MW2 immediately after starting. More often, Call of Duty reminds me to buy Modern Warfare 2 in order to play it. But I have owned it since release. My teammates have similar issues.

Then Warzone 2 came and brought server problems.

Here too, my hype was stifled in its infancy. In the first weeks, we had only a few matches without problems. The connection fluctuated, battles were affected, and frustration rose. Warzone 2 ended for me even faster than CoD MW2.

MW2 and Warzone 2 should have been released later

My research in the community showed me that many players were struggling with similar issues. Additionally, there were contentious design decisions regarding the user interface and gameplay.

Since the delay of Season 2 in February, things have been improving – at least from a technical standpoint. The thing is: we had a similar situation a year before.

CoD Vanguard also delayed Season 2 back then so that they had time to fix it. And even last year, I wrote a similar article about how CoD was in the worst condition in years. My trust has run out.

Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2 needed a release delay.

Both games built hype but were technically untidy and didn’t provide enough (new) content right after the release to remain motivating. With Shipment and Shoot House, CoD MW2 didn’t even get new maps in Season 1, but rather reworks.

I think: even after CoD Vanguard, the sharp decline in player numbers was not only due to the setting, which was controversially discussed. It was due to the state of the game, and we have exactly the same problem this year.

What do you think about it? Do you have any questions on the topic? Leave a comment.