Black Ops 7 Drops Below MW3: Is This the Worst-Reviewed Call of Duty Ever?

Black Ops 7 currently has a 1.6 user rating on Metacritic. That puts it below Modern Warfare 3—long considered the franchise’s lowest point among players. With performance issues, controversial design decisions, and a divided player base, Black Ops 7 has quickly become one of the most polarizing entries in Call of Duty’s history.

One of the biggest contributors to the negative user score is poor PC performance at launch. Early technical analyses, including PC performance benchmarks, reveal inconsistent framerates, CPU bottlenecks, and unstable memory usage across a range of hardware configurations. These issues have left many PC players frustrated, particularly those with mid-range GPUs who expected smoother performance. The campaign’s narrative—marketed around Mason’s psychological unraveling—has also triggered mixed reactions. Some players appreciate the direction, while others find it disjointed or gimmicky. Combined with widespread reports of stuttering, long shader compilation times, and matchmaking instability, the game’s launch state has significantly affected user sentiment. According to reporting from Metacritic user rating trend, the backlash escalated rapidly within the first 48 hours—faster than previous entries in the franchise.

Despite the controversy, Black Ops 7 made history by launching on Game Pass from day one. This marks a significant shift in Microsoft’s publishing strategy, giving millions of subscribers immediate access to the newest Call of Duty without an upfront purchase. According to Game Pass day-one release, BO7 is one of the service’s biggest day-one releases to date. This decision has had mixed effects. On one hand, it dramatically increased the player count at launch. On the other, it also exposed the game to a broader pool of critical feedback—particularly from players who may not have purchased a $70 title outright. Still, Microsoft sees Game Pass integration as a long-term strategy to unify the COD community across platforms. Whether that approach benefits BO7’s image remains to be seen.

Black Ops 7’s 1.6 user score puts it at the bottom of the franchise’s rankings—lower even than MW3, which held one of the most infamous receptions in COD history. According to Worst-reviewed Call of Duty ranking, BO7 currently sits as the worst-reviewed Call of Duty by user rating since Metacritic began tracking the series. Several factors contribute to this ranking:

• Performance instability on PC and consoles
• Controversial campaign direction
• Aggressive monetization fears
• Numerous launch bugs requiring immediate patches Treyarch has since released a preseason update addressing performance issues, weapon balance, UI adjustments, and stability fixes. Full details are available in the Preseason patch notes, though players remain divided on whether the fixes arrived too late to soften the initial blow.

The future of BO7’s reception hinges on how quickly and effectively Treyarch responds to its technical shortcomings. A strong roadmap of updates could turn sentiment around—something the franchise has managed in the past. But for now, Black Ops 7 stands at a historic low, cementing itself as the most divisive Call of Duty launch to date.