The Great FPS Shift: Call of Duty Retakes the Lead as Battlefield 6 “Honeymoon Phase” Ends

The narrative of the 2025 shooter wars has taken a dramatic turn. While Battlefield 6 (BF6) dominated the fall with record-breaking sales and a massive launch on October 10, new data from late December 2025 shows that the Call of Duty (CoD) ecosystem has successfully reclaimed its position as the world’s most-played military shooter.

The shifting tides are being attributed to the “ecosystem power” of the Call of Duty HQ and a series of technical setbacks that have plagued Battlefield 6’s recent “Winter Offensive”
update.

1. The Player Count Paradox: Sales vs. Engagement

On paper, EA is still winning the sales battle for the year. Battlefield 6 sold over 7 million units in its first three days and was confirmed by Circana as the best-selling game of 2025 as of November. However, recent engagement data tells a different story:

• Console Dominance: For the week ending December 13, 2025, Call of Duty HQ (which combines Black Ops 7, Black Ops 6, and Warzone) sat at #2 on both Xbox and PlayStation charts, trailing only Fortnite.

• Battlefield’s Slide: During that same week, Battlefield 6 slipped from 6th to 7th place on consoles. While still healthy, it indicates a steady loss of momentum compared to CoD’s “frictionless” hub.

• The PC Exception: On Steam, Battlefield 6 is still outperforming CoD. On December 25, BF6 hit a peak of 99,369 concurrent players, nearly double the Call of Duty HQ peak of 51,017.

2. Why the Shift is Happening

The “overtaking” isn’t due to a single game, but rather the way players interact with the franchises in 2025.

3. The “RedSec” Rescue Attempt

To combat the decline in core multiplayer engagement, EA launched Battlefield: RedSec on October 28—a free-to-play battle royale and extraction mode. While RedSec initially boosted numbers, critics and players on platforms like Reddit have noted it hasn’t quite managed to “dent” the massive lead held by Warzone.

The general sentiment among fans is that BF6’s identity feels “muddled”—trying to appeal to Call of Duty fans with smaller maps while frustrating veterans who want the classic “Total Warfare” experience.

4. “Omnimovement” and the Black Ops 7 Surge

The November 14 launch of Black Ops 7 proved to be the turning point. Despite physical sales being down (largely due to its inclusion on Game Pass), the game’s new “Omnidirection Movement” has been a massive hit with streamers and competitive players.

• The ability to slide, dive, and sprint in 360 degrees has given CoD a “skill gap” that fans find addictive.

• In contrast, some BF6 players find the 2025 movement system (“Kinesthetic Combat”) to be too heavy and “boring” in comparison to the arcade-style speed of Black Ops.

Conclusion: A Marathon, Not a Sprint

While Call of Duty has regained the engagement crown this December, Battlefield 6 is far from dead. With a Metascore in the low 80s and a dedicated PC audience, it remains the “prestige” choice for players who want destruction and scale. However, as Shawn Layden recently noted, the “HQ” model of Call of Duty makes it an “unbeatable ecosystem” that keeps players trapped in a single app—a hurdle that EA’s standalone model is struggling to jump.

Would you like me to track the upcoming “Season 2” roadmaps for both games to see which one is bringing more “legacy” maps to win back disgruntled fans?