Here's why 'Call of Duty' fans aren't too hot on 'Vanguard'

Every year, black smoke pours from the chimneys of Activision HQ, and your local big box stores are smothered in a plastic avalanche of the latest Call of Duty. But while COD is still a huge name in the gaming space, it seems that the latest entry Vanguard isn't quite as hot as previous entries, and a new survey might shed light as to why.

Business site GamesIndustry.biz asked 671 convention-goers at PAX and EGX events about their feelings towards Call of Duty over the past few months. Though 42% of those surveyed said that they had bought a COD game in the last five years, only 59 people said they had bought Vanguard. That's less than 10% of the total.

The glut continues — 11% of the former Call of Duty players surveyed (of the 42% who bought one over the past five years) said that they were more interested in another game over Vanguard, particularly Halo Infinite and Battlefield 2042. But more than that, it appears that Vanguard might be a victim of Call of Duty's continued success.

34% of those COD players said they have played too much of the game series lately, and 14% said that they're happy with the free battle royale entry Warzone. 24% of those players indicated that they're not interested in World War II-themed games, which is somewhat ironic, given that WWII is the original setting of the series. Then again, Call of Duty's most successful entries have always focused on "modern warfare," so it's not that surprising.

Another gun in the armory — As a whole, it seems that Vanguard is a middling entry in the long-running series, with lukewarm reviews and sales to match. Then again, a middling Call of Duty still sells a lot of copies compared to most other games, so let's not write the series' obituary just yet.