Call of Duty HQ Dominates Consoles as Battlefield 6 Slips in Ranks

The narrative of the 2025 holiday season has shifted unexpectedly. While Electronic Arts celebrated massive launch sales for Battlefield 6 earlier this fall, recent player engagement data indicates that the Call of Duty juggernaut has successfully weathered the storm. On consoles, where the vast majority of the shooter audience plays, Battlefield 6 is beginning to slide down the activity charts, while the combined force of the "Call of Duty HQ" has solidified its position as the premier destination for shooter fans. This reversal suggests that while gamers were eager to buy EA's new title, keeping them away from Activision's entrenched ecosystem is a much harder challenge.

The data paints a complex picture of sales versus long-term retention. Battlefield 6 hit the market on Oct 10 and quickly sold a million units, with Circana confirming it as the best-selling game in the U.S. for Nov and likely the entire year. However, engagement tells a different story: for the week ending Dec 13, 2025, Battlefield 6 slipped from sixth to seventh place on both Xbox and PlayStation activity lists. 

In contrast, Call of Duty HQ, bolstered by the Nov 14 launch of Black Ops 7, held the number two spot on both platforms, trailing only Fortnite. On PC, Battlefield retains a lead; Steam data from Dec 25, 2025, shows Battlefield 6 hitting a concurrent peak of 99,369 players, significantly higher than Call of Duty HQ’s peak of 51,017, as reported by Gamerant. Meanwhile, Black Ops 7 reportedly saw physical launch sales drop nearly 63% in Europe compared to previous entries, a decline attributed to its day-one availability on Game Pass.

The Power of the 'HQ' Ecosystem

The discrepancy between sales and active players highlights the strength of Activision’s "HQ" strategy. While Battlefield 6 is a standalone premium product, Call of Duty operates as a frictionless hub. 

It seamlessly connects the premium Black Ops 7 experience with the free-to-play Warzone, allowing players to bounce between modes without leaving the ecosystem. This retention loop appears to be outlasting the initial hype of Battlefield, which has also faced setbacks due to technical issues following its recent "Winter Offensive" update.

However, current trends demonstrate that displacing the king of first-person shooters requires more than just a successful launch quarter. It requires a live-service machine that keeps players engaged week after week.