Black Ops 7 panned on release due to bizarre single-player campaign, AI, and bad optimization

Michael Hassall Published November 17, 2025

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has received some of the harshest criticism by players in the history of the franchise, with plummeting user numbers just days after launch.

The game currently stands at just a user score of 1.8/10 on metacritic, compared to an 83/100 from 24 critic reviews, and on Steam, reviews sit at “Mixed” with just 40% of users reviewing the game favorably.

So what happened to make this latest Call of Duty flop so hard in the eyes of users?

Black Ops 7 launches to user terrible reviews, low player counts

The biggest complaints seem to come from a bizarre and fantastical singleplayer campaign. From zombies and magic, to giant bosses that look more like they’re out of Final Fantasy than Call of Duty, Black Ops 7 is scaring away its military simulation (mil-sim) shooter fans.

The game was already drawing comparisons to the two games above it in the Steam charts, Battlefield 6 and the free-to-play Delta Force, but with the release of BO7, it’s clear that mil-sim fans prefer Battlefield.

Image Credit: Activision

But beyond just the strange campaign (that for some reason, random players can join in the middle of your single-player experience), there’s the persistent use of AI that’s drawn ire. The art in menus, stickers, cosmetics, and even (the accusation that) the insane story were generated by AI, and it shows in the low quality, poor art style, and bizarre anachronisms.

Accurate player counts for Call of Duty are hard to quantify, as many users play the game on non-tracked platforms such as Activision Blizzard’s own Battle.net, on consoles. But from Steam player count alone, Black Ops 7 is struggling, peaking at just around 45k users this past weekend.

Compared to rivals on the same platform, it’s a poor showing. Especially when the game had to compete with not only Battlefield, but popular extraction shooters like ARC Raiders and Tarkov.

Overall, it’s a disappointing showing for Black Ops and Call of Duty. Worse, it’s a blow for fans of the series when this game is supposed to be the true sequel to Black Ops 2, only for another lacklustre campaign and game to hit the shelves.

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Featured Image Credit: Activision