They're just asking this question NOW?

Feels like it's been a hard consensus among fans that they have only been "good enough" for like 5 games since 2013.

I don't think the quality of Black Ops 7 itself has affected the sales a lot honestly. Of course, if the game was sensationally good, there would be a lot of hype and people will get it, but my impression is that a game being bad generally doesn't stop a game from reaching their sales targets. What you see what CoD and some other big franchises is the effect studios gradually ruining their reputation over many years by consistently releasing subpar products. They are now seeing the consequences of their extreme focus on maximizing the profit from each game, but to be completely honest, it was probably totally worth it from a financial standpoint even if upcoming games flop completely.

People are finally bored of the formula?

I mean... they're essentially live service games with the amount of microtransactions and seasons, yet Black Ops 7 was announced only 8 months after Black Ops 6 launched.

No wonder it sold poorly - basically eating their own tail.

I'm so tired of games that have the weapons you'd like to use behind a paywall I hope they all crash and burn. COD just as much as Battlefield. I might simply go back to playing CS 1.6.

That all, and they raised the price when the core demographic has less disposable income than ever.

It's not worth $70. For an annual rehash like madden, FIFA or 2K nope. You can only sell Nazi zombies so many times.

Sounds like the problem is just trying to chase infinite growth, expecting every game to sell more than the last.

why can't it just go back to like it was way back in the day with like 8 on 8 or whatever and a solid single player? why do I need to be able to look like a Gundam to shoot people?

If I want to play a shooter with silly characters i'll play Fortnite.

It’s the funny skins and convoluted menu. I don’t want to play Fortnite with my Call of Duty and I don’t know how to get to the campaign or multiplayer options.

Also, why do I need a 1-billion GB app to launch the game I’m playing?

Bricky shredded the single player campaign.

They seem to not understand what made the good games good, and then when a game does do well, they try to milk it. The yearly releases are likely too much as well.

Black ops 3 was cool -> ruined with predatory micro transactions. anyone remember how they would pair you with people who had the items you were viewing in the loot box menu in an attempt to get you to purchase? And then the odds were stupidly low to actually get the items.

The modern warfare reboot was cool. But again they slowly ruined it entry after entry.

Black ops was kinda neat last year. Then they tried to milk it again.

Idk I'm kinda rambling here but if you've played most of the titles I think it makes sense as to why people aren't always getting every one at this point

On top of everything already mentioned, I'm sure them generating their in-game assets with AI probably doesn't help either