If a game full of all the worst traits of AAA enshittification does well, it will encourage them to continue making it worse and worse, as well as signalling to other studios that such practises are the right way to go; AI slop, copy-paste design, forced online, aggressive monetization, etc.

I feel like CoD hasn’t gotten much worse in recent years, though a flop would definitely ensure problems. So, again, I ask why should we want a flop? Unless you simply want “justice” to come in the form of punishing the higher-ups who approve such design choices (though ultimately the bulk of this burden would land on the shoulders of the developers, not those making these predatory/lazy/poor decisions).

And as far as the AI is concerned, this is Microsoft we’re talking about: AI will be crammed into any and every aspect of the development process going forward, no matter how the game performs. And the industry will follow accordingly regardless of consumer backlash.

I’ll cut to the point: If people want to engage with what you view as “slop,” then what does it matter to you? It’s pathetic when people celebrate to the tune of misery. Stick with your games, and let others play with their’s. As somebody who was once a diehard Skylanders fan (it was the only game I played from January 2012 through March 2017), I know all too well what it feels like when it seems the whole internet is rooting for the demise of a franchise you are so passionate about.

BO7 is significantly worse than the COD standard.

It matters cos when shit things perform well, then things get progressively shitter. When shit things underperform, there's at least a chance they may rethink their approach.

And knowing Microsoft, the way they’ll “rethink” is by firing devs and entering a directionless, downward spiral.

Layoffs are gonna happen regardless; tons of devs have been culled over the last few years even when their games do well.

The downward spiral would be assured if games like BO7 continued selling 30m plus; there'd be no chance of course correction then.

eh… agree to disagree.

To add to Curl's comments:

The market is super stacked with games many of which overshadowed by established titles. Someone's failure/success can determine the success/failure of another. I'd rather have a game with more effort and higher quality be the one benefitting from the harsh reality and rules of competition.

If you go back to my ABK aquisition debates and concerns, I was rooting for COD leaving Playstation, because it would have a) forced Sony to work harder, and b) cut COD's sales and promoted other franchises. Imagine how bad Black Ops 7 sales would have gone if it wasn't available on Playstation.

Most gamers are capped by money and time. I'd prefer the money/time going to quality gaming, which is abundant. Most gamers inevitably miss out on countless wonderful experiences thanks in part to trendy mediocre games.

Black Ops 7 selling 10 million+ (I think it'll still sell over 20 million) won't really be a "failure", and my comment wasn't that serious. I'm happy that a mid series will decline if better games can capitalize on it. Total failure isn't required, COD is currently too big to fail. I don't want COD or any mediocre series to fail per se, I just want them to improve. Until then, I'll of course celebrate their decline because someone more worthy of success will benefit.

Every long lasting franchise has its Vanguard moment. COD seems to have just more of them

https://www.vgchartz.com/article/466294/call-of-duty-black-ops-7-uk-retail-launch-sales-are-61-lower-than-black-ops-6/

Sales are down 61% compared to last year, in the UK.
This means 39% of last years CoD.... ei. This more than halved its sales.... that's retail, where the casuals mass buy.

If you look at digital sales like Steam, I think sales numbers are even worse than that.
Ei. Casuals are apparently not as critical as more hardcore gamers. Where I would suspect sales are like 1/3rd or less, of last years.

Didn't they release numbers that hinted at like 90%+ playstation adoption rate (on the console side).
Ei. if they cut Playstation, they would have 1/10th of their normal sales total on consoles.

We don't have to imagine. On Xbox most people playing it, where playing it on gamepass.

It lead to them saying it cost them more than $300m in CoD sales, having it there (on gamepass).
And also caused them to restructure and raise prices on gamepass, before the next CoD released (this one).
This is why, Gamepass is now 30$ a month.

I think it does go on to sell 10m+.
I don't think BO7 reaches 20m, I think it falls short of that.... feel free to quote this in like 5years time, if that proves wrong.