Battlefield 6 was the US' best-selling game of 2025, finally dethroning Call of Duty after a 23-year-long feud between the juggernaut shooters

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Call of Duty hasn't been this low on the year-end list since 2008

Battlefield 6 multiplayer screenshot
(Image credit: EA)

Battlefield and Call of Duty have been wrapped up in a seemingly eternal feud for as long as both have been around, which is give or take 23 years. They're the shooter equivalent of Ares vs. Athena, Tom vs. Jerry, Coke vs. Pepsi - forever destined to be at odds for the title of the military shooter – and for the first time ever, Battlefield has come out on top.

Veteran games industry analyst, Circana's Mat Piscatella, recently released a list of the best-selling video games of 2025 in the US based on dollar sales. Lo and behold, for the first time in series history, Battlefield 6 comfortably topped the list ahead of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. Here's the full chart:

  1. Battlefield 6
  2. NBA 2K26
  3. Borderlands 4
  4. Monster Hunter Wilds
  5. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
  6. Madden NFL 26
  7. EA Sports College Football 26
  8. EA Sports FC 26
  9. The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered
  10. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

The rest of the list also includes the immortal Minecraft, Elden Ring: Nightreign, and Pokemon Legends: Z-A, which may have actually charted higher if Circana's data included digital Nintendo sales.

In over two decades, a Battlefield release has never placed higher than a Call of Duty game on the chart until now. What's more impressive is that, since 2009, only three games have beaten the annual shooter franchise on the year-end list: 2013's GTA 5, 2018's Red Dead Redemption 2, and 2023's Hogwarts Legacy.

This is also the first time since 2008 that Call of Duty hasn't managed to cling onto at least the second-place position, back when Call of Duty: World at War had stiff competition from multiple Wii games and GTA 4.

Franchise fatigue might finally be part of the reason why Black Ops 7 underperformed this time around, but a less-than-stellar reception didn't do the game any favors, either. The latest Call of Duty currently has 'Mostly Negative' reviews on Steam, as well as one of the worst Metacritic scores in the series' record books.

Activision makes big Call of Duty announcement: "We will no longer do back-to-back releases of Modern Warfare or Black Ops" mainly "to ensure we provide an absolutely unique experience each and every year"

Kaan Serin
Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.

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