Is cod Vanguard worth buying now? Only for dedicated Call of Duty fans
For most gamers, Call of Duty: Vanguard is hard to recommend buying at full price in 2024. However, among the Call of Duty faithful, there‘s still an audience who will find enjoyment from Vanguard‘s polished take on World War 2 multiplayer. Let‘s dive deeper on who should or shouldn‘t consider picking up Vanguard nearly a year and a half after launch.
Vanguard‘s player base and sales reveal waning interest in the franchise
To assess Vanguard‘s ongoing relevancy and player engagement in 2024, we need to examine its sales and current player counts compared to recent Call of Duty titles.
The numbers indicate a significant downward trend for Vanguard:
-
At launch, Vanguard sold an estimated 40% fewer copies than 2020‘s Black Ops Cold War. It was the lowest-selling CoD game in 14 years.
-
Vanguard‘s peak concurrent player count on Steam was less than 200,000 players. For comparison, Cold War exceeded 600,000 concurrent users at launch according to SteamCharts data.
-
By July 2022, Vanguard‘s estimated total active players across platforms dropped to between 10,000 – 20,000 players.
| Call of Duty Game | Estimated Peak Concurrent Players |
|---|---|
| Black Ops Cold War | Over 600,000 |
| Vanguard | Under 200,000 |
This data shows that general interest and engagement with Vanguard has fallen off steeply compared to the previous year‘s title.
While Vanguard retains a consistent community of hardcore fans, its lower sales and faster dropoff in players signal waning excitement for the Call of Duty formula among more casual fans.
Industry analyst Rupantar Guha from GlobalData sums it up: "Casual players have lost interest in the franchise and the hardcore fanbase is gradually shrinking."
Vanguard delivers competently on familiar Call of Duty combat
If we shift focus from commercial performance to the contents of Vanguard‘s gameplay, it delivers a polished and satisfying experience for those seeking another AAA WWII Call of Duty title.
Across the board, Vanguard hits the high standards people expect from CoD – satisfying gunplay, immersive audio design, and smooth performance with up to 20 players.
The modes you know and love are here: team deathmatch, domination, search and destroy, hardpoint, and more. There‘s a 10 hour single-player campaign taking you through multiple WWII theaters. Zombies offers co-op for up to 4 players across new chapters.
For multiplayer, Vanguard serves up 20 maps ranging from small-scale confrontations to chaotic battles with over 60 combatants through the Combat Pacing system.
Progression stays rewarding as you level up weapons, unlock new loadouts, and chase camos/skins through the Battle Pass system. Vanguard also integrated with Warzone, allowing you to level guns in either game.
However, the overall experience leans too heavily on past entries in the series without pushing forward in innovative ways. Long-time CoD expert Ryan Reynolds noted:
"Vanguard just doesn‘t do enough to shake things up. The campaign hits the same story beats as older WWII CoDs. Multiplayer modes and progression are too familiar. It‘s tough for Vanguard to stand out after the novelty of a return to WWII has worn off."
Lower pricing adds value, but concerns over content remain
Upon release at $70, Vanguard presented a steep premium price point. Now discounted down to $40 or less in 2024, Vanguard becomes more enticing for budget-conscious gamers.
Bundles like the Vanguard & Warzone Edition provide further value, compiling the base game with bonus skin packs and blueprints for under $60.
However, Call of Duty titles have notoriously short shelf lives before the next installment arrives. Vanguard player feedback on Reddit indicates some feel $40 is still expensive for a 12-month old game that many have moved on from:
"I picked up Vanguard for 50% off a few months after launch. Honestly, I regret paying even $35 for it. The maps are just okay and I‘m bored of WWII settings. And with Modern Warfare 2 coming this year Vanguard already feels irrelevant."
While the discounts make Vanguard accessible, concerns linger on whether it provides enough engaging content to justify the expenditure.
Verdict: Only worthwhile for diehard Call of Duty fans
Given Vanguard‘s middling reception and the imminent arrival of 2024‘s Modern Warfare 2, it‘s tough to recommend buying Vanguard at full price now. The overall package feels dated and iterative compared to recent entries.
However, for hardcore fans who will put dozens or hundreds of hours into WWII multiplayer, Vanguard delivers a polished experience. If you‘ve exhausted previous CoD titles and crave more frenetic 6v6, 10v10, and 12v12 WWII action, Vanguard‘s discounts may warrant pulling the trigger.
Yet more casual players should wait for a deeper sale or consider skipping Vanguard entirely. At this late stage in its lifecycle, only the most dedicated members of the Call of Duty faithful will find Vanguard truly gratifying at $40. For everyone else, it‘s wiser to look ahead to Modern Warfare 2 later this year.