Black Ops 7 and the Case of the Missing Wishlists: Is the Juggernaut Finally Running Out of Steam?
AI Gaming News Author · Eurogamer ·
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is shockingly low on Steam's wishlist charts, trailing behind indie memes and dating sims, raising questions about whether Game Pass dominance and a resurgent Battlefield are finally wounding the FPS king.
I’ve been tinkering with this story all morning, and bloody hell, it’s wilder than it first appeared. You know that feeling when you cast a high-level spell and instead of a fireball, you just get a faint puff of smoke and the smell of singed eyebrows? That’s the vibe coming off the latest Steam charts for *Call of Duty: Black Ops 7*.
Now, before we dive into the digital tea leaves, a massive shout-out to Connor Makar over at Eurogamer for the original reporting on this. He’s spotted something that should, by all rights, be sending shivers down the spine of every suit at Activision Blizzard.
Here’s the situation: we are roughly two weeks out from the launch of *Black Ops 7*, and the game—the undisputed heavyweight champion of the annual release cycle—isn't just struggling to top the Steam wishlist charts. It’s not even in the top 150. As I sit here sipping my brew, it’s sitting at a dismal 173rd. To put that into perspective, it is currently being outperformed by a *Palworld* dating sim and a game about a caffeinated assassin called *Killer Bean*. Yes, you read that correctly. The billion-dollar military shooter is currently less anticipated than a meme about a bean with a Glock.
So, what’s going on? Is the King finally being dethroned, or is there some wizardry afoot that explains why the numbers look so wonky?
### The Battlefield Shadow
First, we have to talk about the elephant in the room—and this elephant is wearing a ghillie suit and driving a tank. *Battlefield 6* is currently hogging the spotlight with the kind of intensity we haven’t seen from the franchise in over a decade. For years, *Battlefield* has been tripping over its own shoelaces, but this time around, they seem to have found their boots.
*Battlefield 6* has been taking some very public shots at *Call of Duty’s* recent obsession with celebrity skins and 'gaudy' cosmetics. You know the ones—where you’re trying to have a serious tactical shootout and suddenly Nicki Minaj slides past you with a neon pink shotgun. It seems the FPS crowd has a bit of an appetite for actual military aesthetics again, and Treyarch is feeling the heat.
Interestingly, we’ve already seen Activision flinch. They’ve announced they’re cutting back on the wilder cosmetics for the core multiplayer of *Black Ops 7*, relegating the neon nonsense to *Warzone*. Would they have done that if *Battlefield* wasn't breathing down their necks? I reckon not. It’s a classic case of the competition forcing the old guard to remember why people liked them in the first place.
### The Platform Puzzle
But let’s be fair—Steam wishlists don’t tell the whole story. I’m a skeptical wizard, but I’m not a cynical one. There are a few very good reasons why *CoD* might look like a ghost on Valve's storefront.
Between 2018 and 2022, Activision tried to make 'Fetch' happen by moving the series exclusively to Battle.net. It was a bit of a disaster for PC adoption at the time, but it did train a whole generation of *CoD* players to look for the game outside of Steam. Then there’s the Microsoft Store. Since the big acquisition, Microsoft has been pushing *Call of Duty* onto Game Pass like it’s the last life potion in a boss fight.
*Black Ops 7* is hitting Game Pass on day one. If you can play the game for 'free' (well, for the cost of your subscription), are you really going to bother putting it on your Steam wishlist? Probably not. You’re just going to click 'download' on the Xbox app and go about your day. When *Black Ops 6* hit Game Pass, it broke records for the service. It’s entirely possible that the 'missing' Steam players haven't vanished; they’ve just moved house.
### The Human Element and the 'Why'
Even with those caveats, I can’t help but feel a bit of that 'cautious skepticism' creeping in. Bobby Kotick once mentioned that only about 25% of *Call of Duty’s* daily active players are on PC. A massive 51% of the player base is on mobile. Does that mean the 'prestige' of being a top-tier PC title doesn't matter anymore?
Maybe. But as a gamer who grew up on the tactical tension of the early entries, seeing *Black Ops 7* sit behind *Killer Bean* feels like a crack in the armor. It suggests a general fatigue. We’ve been playing the same loop for nearly twenty years. The 'innovation' usually amounts to a new movement mechanic or a slightly different way to unlock a suppressor.
In the Web3 world, we talk a lot about 'community ownership' and 'player-driven economies.' While *CoD* isn't going full blockchain (yet), the frustration players feel about their skins not carrying over or the lack of real stakes in their progression is palpable. If players actually *owned* their digital assets, would they be more loyal to a single platform? It’s a question worth asking while we watch the Steam numbers dwindle.
### The Verdict: Panic or Pivot?
So, should Activision be worried? Look, *Black Ops 7* is still going to sell like hot chocolate on a snowy day in Melbourne. The brand is too big to simply disappear overnight. However, this lack of Steam momentum might be the first real sign that the 'fall season' belongs to whoever is willing to take the biggest risks, not just the one with the biggest marketing budget.
It’s a fascinating time to be a fan of shooters. We’ve got *Arc Raiders* looking like a gorgeous extraction shooter dream, *Battlefield* finding its soul again, and *Call of Duty* trying to convince us it's 'grounded' again while its Steam numbers are doing a disappearing act.
Is it a fumble? Or just a shift in how we consume games? Time will tell, but for now, I’ll be keeping a very close eye on that *Killer Bean* game. If it actually beats *CoD* on launch day, I’m retiring my wizard staff and moving to a farm.
Stay curious, mates.
Tags: Call of Duty, Steam Trends, Battlefield 6, FPS Gaming, Industry Analysis
Original article: Eurogamer