Modern Warfare 4 drew lower launch-week engagement than last year’s Black Ops 7 on PlayStation and Xbox, according to figures from US market research firm Circana. The data covers the week ending October 24 and measures the share of players on each platform who played the game.
Circana analyst Mat Piscatella said 19% of PlayStation players and 17% of Xbox players played Modern Warfare 4 during that week, compared with 4.2% of Steam players. For Black Ops 7’s launch week, Circana recorded engagement of 23% on PlayStation, 29% on Xbox and 1.5% on Steam.
The figures come from Circana’s proprietary Player Engagement Tracker, which tracks activity in the US on Steam and PlayStation, and worldwide on Xbox. Modern Warfare 4 ranked among the top 10 games across all three platforms during the week, according to Circana, and placed just below Fortnite on PlayStation.
The lack of a day-one Game Pass release may help explain the lower Xbox figure. Black Ops 7 was the second and last Call of Duty title to launch on the subscription service at the same time as its premium release. Game Pass availability can increase player numbers, although it does not necessarily boost sales.
The decline on PlayStation is less clear. The source suggests that successful summer ports of Black Ops 1 and Black Ops 2 to PS4 and PS5 may have brought back former players who have since lost interest in newer Call of Duty games. SteamDB figures cited in the report also point to a weaker launch for Modern Warfare 4 than Black Ops 7 and other recent releases.
Activision’s public comments have also differed between the two launches. After Modern Warfare 4’s release, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma praised the franchise’s history and lifetime revenue in a post on X, but did not name the game. The previous year, Activision’s post-launch statement for Black Ops 7 focused on the response to its gameplay rather than sales or revenue.
Sources: Eurogamer.