Shooter Monthly #2: Call of Duty Flops, Battlefield Hops, and Arc Raiders Pops

Call of Duty’s worst launch in a decade collides with the rise of extraction shooters, and the balance of power inside the genre shifts. We dig into why Black Ops 7 cratered, how Battlefield 6 stole the spotlight, and why Arc Raiders is suddenly the most important new IP in shooters. Chris Sides and Feras return to map the fault lines, spar over SPMM, and weigh whether Tarkov’s disastrous Steam debut marks the ceiling for the genre’s original heavyweight.

We discuss:

• Black Ops 7’s collapse and why marketing, futurism, and CPI pressure all converged

• Battlefield 6’s surge, the RedSec flop, and why innovation is still missing in BR design

• The extraction boom: Arc Raiders as the “PUBG moment” and its long-term retention risks

  • PvE as the emerging driver of mainstream extraction demand

• Skill-based matchmaking as an economic problem, not a matchmaking one

• Tarkov’s failed 1.0 launch and what its country-mix reveals about stagnant reach

• Whether Embark should kill The Finals and move every resource into Arc Raiders