IT House reported on April 26 that Call of Duty players are being lost. According to Activision's first investor report for 2022 released today, users of the entire Call of Duty game declined sharply in 2021 and 2022. Due to the immense popularity of Call of Duty: Warzone, the series reached 150 million monthly active users in 2021, but lost 50 million players in a single year.
Call of Duty now has about 100 million monthly active players, and while still a huge number, it's the biggest drop in players since the release of Call of Duty: Warzone in 2020. Activision attributed this to disappointing sales of Call of Duty: Vanguard and the "low engagement" of Call of Duty: Warzone. Activision has mentioned that Call of Duty: Vanguard is selling less than usual, but given that Call of Duty: Warzone is a free-to-play game and may represent the largest segment of Call of Duty players, it may be more responsible.
The 50 million player churn reflects the disappointing year of Call of Duty: Warzone updates, including boring seasons, annoying balance issues, and a bunch of bugs at the start of the new map that went unpatched even weeks after its launch.
IT House understands that Activision seems to be increasingly pinning its hopes on Infinity Ward, a developer beloved by Call of Duty fans, which is working on a sequel to Call of Duty 16: Modern Warfare for 2019, Call of Duty 19: Modern Warfare 2, and Call of Duty: Warzone 2, which will deliver groundbreaking innovations from scratch.