Action
Call of Duty®: Black Ops Cold War
The first 3 hours are a test
Gets good by 3h almost every game dips in hours 2–3
Reach the ending 61% of players who started
Started playing 57% of owners
Steam reviews 79% positive of 23,800
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 2 reviews are negative (60%); after 10h it's 1 in 6 (16%).
- The opening is criticised more than in 89% of games we track.
- 61% of players who start reach the ending.
- The biggest drop-off is between “The Final Countdown” and “Ashes to Ashes”: from 49% to 33% of starters.
- Only 56% of owners have even the first achievement — the rest barely played.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 23,960 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 295 reviews: 12.5h for positive, 12.8h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (56.5% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- Nowhere Left to Run Complete Nowhere Left to Run in Campaign on any difficulty. 100%
- Fracture Jaw Complete Fracture Jaw in Campaign on any difficulty. 92% −8
- Brick in the Wall Complete Brick in the Wall in Campaign on any difficulty. 80% −12
- Redlight, Greenlight Complete Redlight, Greenlight in Campaign on any difficulty. 77% −3
- Echoes of a Cold War Complete Echoes of a Cold War in Campaign on any difficulty. 75% −3
- Desperate Measures Complete Desperate Measures in Campaign on any difficulty. 69% −6
- End of the Line Complete End of the Line in Campaign on any difficulty. 65% −3
- Break on Through Complete Break on Through in Campaign on any difficulty. 63% −2
- The Final Countdown Complete The Final Countdown in Campaign on any difficulty. 49% −14
- Ashes to Ashes Complete Ashes to Ashes in Campaign on any difficulty. Most players quit here 33% −16
- Combat Recruit Complete the Campaign on any difficulty. 61% +28
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (44)
story milestone ending side
- Nowhere Left to Run Complete Nowhere Left to Run in Campaign on any difficulty. 100%
- Fracture Jaw Complete Fracture Jaw in Campaign on any difficulty. 92%
- Brick in the Wall Complete Brick in the Wall in Campaign on any difficulty. 80%
- Redlight, Greenlight Complete Redlight, Greenlight in Campaign on any difficulty. 77%
- Echoes of a Cold War Complete Echoes of a Cold War in Campaign on any difficulty. 75%
- Jack of All Trades Get five kills each with an LMG, SMG, AR, and Shotgun. 74%
- Desperate Measures Complete Desperate Measures in Campaign on any difficulty. 69%
- End of the Line Complete End of the Line in Campaign on any difficulty. 65%
- Break on Through Complete Break on Through in Campaign on any difficulty. 63%
- Old Faithful Kill 200 enemies with an AR. 63%
- Combat Recruit Complete the Campaign on any difficulty. 61%
- Socket-to-me In Zombies, upgrade a skill. 55%
- The Fixer Get 200 Eliminations in Multiplayer. 54%
- The Final Countdown Complete The Final Countdown in Campaign on any difficulty. 49%
- Keep Your Friends Close... Perform Body Shield five times. 47%
- Heavy Metal In Die Maschine, forge the Pack-A-Punch machine. 46%
- EVERYONNNNNNEE! Kill 25 enemies with the AC-130 while defending the rooftop in End of the Line. 45%
- Operation Red Circus Complete Operation Red Circus in Campaign on any difficulty. 44%
- Operation Chaos Complete Operation Chaos in Campaign on any difficulty. 42%
- Ashes to Ashes Complete Ashes to Ashes in Campaign on any difficulty. 33%
- Carpe D.I.E.M. In Die Maschine, free the lost Decompressive Isotopic Estrangement Machine. 26%
- Six Pack In Zombies, upgrade 6 Perk Skills to Tier III. 26%
- Go the Distance Win 50 matches of Multiplayer. 25%
- Calling It In Get 50 kills with lethal Scorestreaks in Multiplayer. 25%
- The Red Door Disobey Adler’s order to go through the door in Break on Through. 20%
- Two Birds, One Stone In Die Maschine, kill the two split Megatons with one shot. 17%
- Survive the Wild Escape from the deep dark Wild. 13%
- Seal the Deal In Die Maschine, close the rift. 12%
- Nightmare at 20 Feet In Die Maschine, kill 100 enemies without leaving the top of the crashed plane wing. 11%
- Combat Hardened Complete the Campaign on Veteran or Realism difficulty. 8.1%
- Explosive Finish Kill 12 enemies with explosive barrels while riding the server lift during Echoes of a Cold War. 6.5%
- Firing Range Knock down 15 metal targets on Main Street in Redlight, Greenlight. 5.3%
- Mind Trip See all seven memory endings and play through all four path ends in Break on Through. 5.3%
- Scorched Earth Destroy all enemy vehicles and mortar teams while defending Firebase Ripcord in Fracture Jaw. 5.3%
- Patriot Arrow Kill an enemy with the bow while ziplining in Echoes of a Cold War. 4.8%
- Forever Fated Find your destiny in the Room of Fate. 4.2%
- Entamaphobia In Die Maschine, stay in the Yard for 15 rounds. 4.2%
- Fowl Five Piece Get a chain of 5 chickens strung together in Dead Ops Arcade. 3.7%
- Scorched Earth II Blow up all trucks and guard towers on the approach to the monastery in The Final Countdown. 2.8%
- Dungeon Diver Visit every corner of a Deadly Dungeon. 2.8%
- Mean Machine Get 100 Kills as the driver, pilot, or passenger of a vehicle in Multiplayer. 2.5%
- Craftwork In Die Maschine, craft 14 different types of items in one match. 2.5%
- Reunited with Fidolina Defeat the Mamaback and save your dear friend. 1.8%
- Party Patrol Get 10 squad wipe medals in Fireteam. 1.8%
Steam page Updated: 2026-10-18.