Battlefield 6 has beaten Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 in sales. It’s impossible to overstate CoD‘s financial dominance; it has been one of the top two best-selling games every year since 2009 when the original Modern Warfare 2 came out. In two separate years, it held both the top spots. Battlefield has never before triumphed over its FPS rival.
Battlefield 6 is now the first game to surpass the Call of Duty released in the same year, according to a report from The Game Business. In the European market, Black Ops 7‘s “opening week sales are 63% below what Battlefield 6 managed during its debut week in October.“ This doesn’t paint a complete picture; global sales trends are likely similar, but as the report notes, these numbers don’t account for downloads via subscription services like Game Pass, onto which Black Ops 7 launched. The really telling statistic from the report is data showing that Black Ops 7 sales are “also down by more than 50% over last year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.“
Battlefield 6 Outsells Call Of Duty For The First Time In Franchise History
Battlefield 6 is a return to form after the very tepid reception of Battlefield 2042, the series’ previous entry. Even with high review scores and consistently impressive concurrent player counts, outpacing Call of Duty in sales is entirely new territory for Battlefield. Every year since 2009, Call of Duty has occupied one of the top two spots – or both – on the U.S. bestsellers chart. It takes a very rare game to beat CoD and take the top spot: Hogwarts Legacy did it in 2023; Rockstar Games has done it twice with Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018 and Grand Theft Auto 5 in 2013.
Battlefield 6 is currently on pace to be the fourth game in over 15 years to take the crown ahead of Call of Duty. The closest Battlefield has ever come to this feat was Battlefield 1 in 2016, when it came in second behind Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4 both came in fourth their respective years, whereas BF2042 – despite its reputation – was the fifth best-selling game of 2021.
Is Battlefield 6 That Good? Or Is Black Ops 7 That Bad?
While Black Ops 7 reviews have trended between mixed and slightly positive (though clearly lower than previous entries), various user scores are very telling. On Steam, only 38% of BO7‘s reviews are positive; its user score on Metacritic is an abysmal 1.7. To be fair, user scores tend to skew a bit negative. BF6 has 58% positive reviews on Steam, but a more generous 7.0 on Metacritic.
The sales disparity is quite shocking, though. Black Ops 7 falling short of Battlefield 6 by 63% in their respective opening weeks is an unexpectedly large gulf. Some of the disparity is likely because of each franchise’s larger direction. Battlefield is clearly on the upswing with a return to a modern setting and a refocusing on the series’ hallmark mechanics. Black Ops 7 follows only one year after Black Ops 6, and is a direct sequel to 2012’s Black Ops 2. Poor campaign and redundant multiplayer aside, CoD simply feels in a deep rut this year.
BF6 has issues of its own. The campaign is widely panned, and Portal hasn’t become the phenomenon Battlefield Studios and EA likely hoped it would be. Its core attraction, the multiplayer, is the best it’s been in a long time, though. It’s hard to argue with sales numbers, though, and Battlefield 6 is on track to top the podium in 2025, beating Call of Duty for the first time ever.
- Released
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October 10, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, In-App Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
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Battlefield Studios
- Engine
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Frostbite