Call Of Duty Fans Explain Why They Didn't Buy Vanguard

We're now a couple of months into the life cycle for Call of Duty's latest outing, the World War II shooter that is 2021's Vanguard, and it's… pretty much exactly what we expected.

In many ways, it's hard to expect the Call of Duty franchise to deviate from its currently incredibly popular battle pass structure with heavy Warzone integration, and it's clear that Vanguard was never planned to take a step away from the other titles.

Some new features have been nice, and the maps of the game are (for the most part) a lot of fun, but, at the end of the day, it's just another entry in the franchise's lineage of same old, same old.

Now, players are coming forward to explain why Vanguard was the point at which they got off the series' train - perhaps for good.

Did Vanguard Sell Less Than Black Ops Cold War?

Charts from both the United Kingdom and wider Europe are reporting that in terms of sales, Vanguard has sold significantly fewer units at launch than Black Ops Cold War did just a year beforehand.

Though the game isn't exactly the only franchise to take a hit to the sales this year, many still feel that this is simply because many fans just aren't interested in the title. And one company has taken a deep dive into exactly why that could be.

Gamers Reveal Why They Haven't Played Vanguard

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Thanks to gamesindustry.biz, we have a report that collates the opinions of gamers, and exactly why they didn't choose to pick up a copy of Vanguard.

Polling 671 games across the UK and US, 284 said they had bought a Call of Duty game in the last 5 years, and of those players, only 59 of them have bought Vanguard. That's a mere 21%.

Interestingly, of those who don't have a copy of the game, 55% suggested that they were just too busy playing other games, while 34 said that they've played too many Call of Duty games to remain interested.

14% of these players stated they didn't get the game because they're simply happy playing the free-to-play Warzone instead - which could be an indicator of the franchise working against itself with so much integration.

It's interesting to see why a lot of players haven't taken the plunge with Vanguard, and it could yet have effects that reverberate through the franchise.

These numbers make a sequel unlikely, but there's no way to rule it out - and there's no telling yet if this trend will keep up when Call of Duty 2022 rolls around. We'll have to wait and see, but one thing is for certain - this isn't good news for the franchise.