Call of Duty continues to dominate US player rankings while Battlefield 6 slips further behind in the franchise rivalry

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Even though Battlefield 6 launched successfully on all platforms, it hasn’t been able to challenge Call of Duty’s leading position. But a closer look at the numbers hints that the full story is more complex.

Call of Duty is currently the second most popular game in the US on Xbox and PlayStation. However, that number includes players of multiple Call of Duty games – Black Ops 6, Warzone, and the new Black Ops 7. Because of this, it’s hard to directly compare how well Black Ops 7 is doing compared to Battlefield 6.

Reports indicate that Black Ops 7 hasn’t sold as well as expected. In Europe, first-week sales were down significantly – 63% compared to Battlefield 6 and over 50% compared to the previous Black Ops game. This suggests that while the Call of Duty franchise remains popular, this particular release might not be as strong as others.

Battlefield 6’s numbers might tell a more complicated story

Even with both its standard multiplayer and the free-to-play battle royale mode, Battlefield 6 hasn’t yet overtaken Call of Duty as the most popular game in the U.S.

According to data from Circana for the week of December 13, 2025, Battlefield 6 has moved down to seventh place, a slight drop from sixth the previous week. This suggests that even with its free-to-play battle royale mode, Battlefield 6 is having trouble competing with the overall popularity of the Call of Duty franchise.

According to Circana’s Player Engagement Tracker, as of the week ending December 13, 2025, the top 15 games by total weekly active players are as follows: Mortal Kombat 1 re-entered the top 15 on Xbox thanks to its availability with Game Pass. Path of Exile 2 saw a boost on Steam in the US and Canada due to the release of ‘The Last of the Druids’ content and a free weekend event.

— @matpiscatella.bsky.social (@matpiscatella.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-12-22T21:28:18.185Z

Finishing in sixth or seventh place is still a good outcome and shows the game has a solid number of players. However, it also suggests that Battlefield might not be fully aligning with what players are looking for right now.

Games like ARC Raiders are gaining popularity, suggesting players want something different from the usual shooting experience. Because of this, a standard battle royale format might not be as appealing as it used to be, particularly with so many live service games already available.

Battlefield 6 is facing scrutiny not only for other issues, but also because fans have noticed some in-game cosmetic items might have been created using AI. You can find more details about this here.

What else does Circana report?  

Fortnite remains the most popular game on both platforms, and Grand Theft Auto V (Remastered) continues to perform well, holding the number three position on both.

Roblox is popular on PlayStation, ranking as the fourth most played game. It does even better on Xbox, coming in at number three. The rest of the top ten usually consists of games that have been around for a while and are constantly updated, which makes it tough for new games to gain popularity and stay relevant each week.

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2025-12-23 00:39