Modern Warfare 4 launch-week engagement trails Black Ops 7, Circana finds
Circana data for the week ending October 24 showed 19 percent of PlayStation players and 17 percent on Xbox played Modern Warfare 4 at launch.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 drew lower launch-week player engagement on PlayStation and Xbox in the US than last year's Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, according to Circana data reported by Eurogamer.
Circana's Player Engagement Tracker showed 19 percent of PlayStation players played Modern Warfare 4 in the week ending October 24, with 17 percent engagement on Xbox and 4.2 percent on Steam.
The game still reached the top 10 on PlayStation, Xbox and Steam in that same week. On PlayStation it sat just below Fortnite in Circana's ranking.
For comparison, Black Ops 7 recorded 23 percent engagement on PlayStation, 29 percent on Xbox and 1.5 percent on Steam in its own launch week, per Circana. It was the second and last Call of Duty title to launch on Game Pass day-and-date with its premium release; Modern Warfare 4 did not arrive on Game Pass on day one.
After Modern Warfare 4's launch, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma issued a statement that did not mention the game by name and cited $40bn in lifetime franchise revenue.
What comes next
Circana analyst Mat Piscatella is cited as the analyst behind the tracker figures, which measure the share of players engaging with the title rather than sales.
Quick answers
How many PlayStation players played Modern Warfare 4 in launch week?
19 percent of PlayStation players played Modern Warfare 4 in the week ending October 24, according to Circana.
Did Modern Warfare 4 launch on Game Pass?
No. Unlike Black Ops 7, Modern Warfare 4 did not launch on Game Pass on day one.
Where did Modern Warfare 4 rank on PlayStation?
It reached the top 10 and sat just below Fortnite in Circana's PlayStation ranking for the week ending October 24.