From Hype to Hate in 72 Hours – The Black Ops 7 Disaster
The initial positive reception of this installment in the long-running military shooter series, which we have henceforth termed The Black Ops 7 Disaster, has taken quite the dramatic downturn, swinging from ever-so-slightly positive to extreme negativity. Increasingly, the game field is changing. One of the things they produce shows the impact: quality does not sync with that of the franchise's loyalists.
It is a telling reaction since it would define the fatal flaw in the publisher's direction-that it seems to favor monetizing over artsmanship and fan expectation.
Indeed, much of what the overall publisher has put forth in the recent past appears to have ultimately resulted in decline quality-wise across the board. Subtle improvements include minor changes to skill-based matchmaking and an increased gain of campaign experience but, overall, this franchise is pointing to a radical new direction, far from its historical roots.
The current title feels disturbingly reminiscent of that infamous number two in the Modern Warfare 3 side series-a confusing statement in itself as, given the publisher's track-record for rebooting and renaming side-series with little regard as to chronological clarity or player retention, one would not expect much to make sense.
Campaign Cohesion and Creative Fatigue
My own experience and analysis, having almost completed the single-player narrative, are also congruent with that of the general public, i.e. the plot is merely confusing. A mess of concepts never converging. Characters fly into magical dream-and-fantasy worlds, and this is dedicated to character backstories that do not make any logical sense.
For instance, one protagonist has a mission that culminates in a surreal sequence involving twisting highways leading into a burning metropolis. Another mission, dedicated to the background of 'Fifty-Fifty Lady' (the one with the robotic arm), inexplicably sends the team to a location in Japan where they must shoot corridor after corridor of literal robots. The supposed intellectual challenge peaks during a random mini-game to deduce a door passcode after the character conveniently "forgets" it. The whole event sequence is jarring.
The most coherent, enjoyable mission, in contrast, currently presents a separate squad led by a character named "Razor." This particular story thread towered above the main tale because:
Cohesion and Chemistry: Razor's cast felt like a real squad, albeit a dysfunctional one; with the main cast miserable with their lack of chemistry and believable relationships.
Objective Reality: Most importantly, this mission existed in the objective reality, leaving out the floor-dropping, reality-bending "shenanigans" experienced in the other missions.
Clear Goals: It was traditional military action parkour-ing up a building, taking out enemies, and destroying a large airship.
Had the whole campaign kept up with the excellence and on-point focus of that single mission, things probably would have looked quite a bit different. Alas, away from that moment of glory, it's now back to the absurd and meaningless plotting that proves how AAA development in this case has become rather disturbingly complacent.
AI Asset Controversy and Its Aftermath with Consumers
Huge contributing factor to The Black Ops 7 Disaster is that the most namelessly unannounced artificial intelligence-generated assets were included in the game. As it turns out, the promotional campaign has avoided mentioning any AI contents, which has further infuriated the community.
Players are already demanding refunds on accounts of the unexpected presence of AI materials in breach of consumer trust. Influencers as well as average users have been successful in getting complete refunds from digital storefronts such as Steam, citing the reason that the game held internal changes through AI-generated content that were not in the pre-launch marketing or promotional snapshots.
Most people think players have been misled. It is truly unbecoming that notwithstanding many big titles, this one included, is deceptively making use of AI art either for cosmetics or even massive structural components, yet wanting to sell them as premium, full-priced products brought about by one among the largest publishers in the world.
Black Ops 7 Disaster: Market Reaction and Competition
By market reaction and to some extent on data on PC platforms, one can say that it confirms the bad sentiment seeping through market data.
Steam Numbers: Quite a Shift in Market
What's quite telling is the concurrent player-data of Steam. Matching another rival title (Battle.net series, Battlefield 6) and a new title (Arc Raiders), this newest entry in military shooters under 100,000 about the concurrent players on the platform just after launch.
| Title | Concurrent Player Count (Post-Launch) | User Review Score (Steam) |
|---|---|---|
| Arc Raiders | Over 300,000 | Overwhelmingly Positive |
| Battlefield 6 | High 200,000s | Mixed / Positive |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 | ~86,000 | Abysmal (45%) |
Note: While almost always performing among the best sellers on console platforms such as the PlayStation 5, indicating that most of its base is still of dedicated consoles, the age-old slump of PC numbers signals a profound loss of some confidence among this vocal and discerning segment of the gaming community.
The bottom line is still that for the first time in years, the franchise sees real, fierce competition. The Black Ops 7 Disaster is symptomatic of laziness but the counterattack it inspires is sign of good things to come in the future of the first-person shooter genre. As was said by one former exec, this pressure would ultimately drive the publisher to focus on quality.
Future Outlook and the Fatigue Problem
What is really worrying about the title is the compulsive pressure to release a new title every single year. Others ways of viewing this point of concern have been revealed by its senior developers from the main studio (Treyarch), who admit that they are concerned about the so-called 'franchise fatigue' because of the almost immediate sequel releases from the same sub-series.
Thus, the aggressive termination schedule spins the cycle in such a way that:
A 'real' or high-quality title is released every two years.
The next year, a 'filler' is quickly made to fill in-the-gap often reusing assets and concepts for the next major release.
This setup produces an average of regular installments, reception of which inevitably causes abandonment in favor of the next installment, resulting in a huge waste and burnout.
Ultimately, the disaster of The Black Ops 7 becomes a wake-up call for the public. Mass amount of refunds and fewer numbers in PC output proved that customers are no longer willing to accept inferior products solely on brand identification. Only then would market competition and consumer pushback realize that the publisher has to place artistic effort and value for the players above guaranteed profits each year.
