Call of Duty is a decent game that sells amazing numbers each and every time. In some cases, Battlefield was ahead in terms of being a good game, like 3 for example.
But not always, Hardline was terrible. It seems that Battlefield 1 is a masterpiece in many aspects, but CoD will always sell well.
It is like the Transformers movies. We can bitch all we want about how they have no soul or substance, people like them.
And, in CoD case, the multiplayer is just a lot of fun, it is fgreat value. I can put CoD Ghosts today in my Xbox One and have some chuckles playing for 10 minutes, it is a good thing.
That said, no CoD game should never ever win Game of the Year. But I totally get why it sells.