Call of Duty: Vanguard in the Rearguard of Sales in the UK

Ethan James 16 Nov 2021

No year passes without a new Call of Duty title. This year’s CoD: Vanguard was a strongly expected premiere in terms of expectations – but not in terms of sales. This year’s release sold about 40% less than the previous year’s title, at least in the UK.

Critics are not delighted by it either. No reviewer sees it as a masterpiece of the series. Some of them rate Call of Duty: Vanguard 4 out of 5, but most tend to give it 3/5, describing it as a decent filler and nothing else, with too on-rails gameplay and too short a story. “Generally favorable” is not the sort of reception that Call of Duty games should meet. Players are already spoiled by high quality and not ready to settle for less. In addition, it’s WW2-themed, and these titles (despite having made the Call of Duty series what it is now) usually sell poorer than modern or futuristic ones.

It wouldn’t be correct to compare it to Warzone, the 2020’s installment, because it’s a free-to-play Battle Royale game based on Modern Warfare (2019). Neither is it a rival to Call of Duty: Mobile, made for other platforms. But if you compare it to the previous title, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, the sales of this year’s installment turn out to be 40% lower.

It’s not that bad, though: Call of Duty: Vanguard is still the second best-selling video game of the season, only surpassed by FIFA 2022. Its success was also undermined by strong rivals like Halo: Infinite and Battlefield 2042. Still, it sells well enough to say that the reports of the franchise crisis are greatly exaggerated. Next year, we are to see Modern Warfare II, the sequel of 2019’s reboot, and chances are it will sell better.

Did you play Call of Duty: Vanguard? Did you like it? What did you dislike the most? Have you bought it or played at your friend’s? Let’s talk about this game in the comments!