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Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek, one of the biggest names in FPS streaming, hasn’t held back when it comes to his thoughts on Call of Duty esports. During a recent stream, while playing Battlefield 2042 of all things, he claimed that CoD’s competitive scene “lacks depth” and has become stale.

According to Shroud, pro players lean on the same old tricks that have worked for years, which makes high-level matches feel repetitive and hard to tell apart. He even went as far as saying you can’t really distinguish one player from another anymore, everyone’s playing at such a high level that the differences are blurred.

“Call of Duty on paper should be one of the biggest esports in the world. The main reason it’s not, is because the game lacks depth. You just hold Mouse 1 and dropshot sometimes,” Shroud said.

His comments sparked mixed reactions across the CoD community. While plenty agreed with his point, others argued that with a trained eye you can spot the nuances between players. OpTic Texas analyst JohnPaul “JPKrez” Krez pushed back, saying the skill gap is still noticeable. Former Toronto Ultra pro Ben “Beans” McMellon went further, claiming CoD was never really built for competitive play in the first place, especially when compared to esports giants like CS:GO or League of Legends.

Why CoD Esports Feels Restrictive

One of the biggest complaints is how restrictive competitive Call of Duty has become. Maps, weapons, and even whole gun categories are regularly banned, leaving players with the same narrow pool of tools. That leads to matches looking nearly identical, aside from the players behind the mouse and keyboard.

New mechanics could shake things up, but Activision has often been hesitant to introduce major changes because the community tends to be split. Just look at the reaction to Black Ops 6’s “omnimovement.” Even the recent reveal of Black Ops 7 at Gamescom didn’t escape heavy criticism, despite fan-favourite maps like Raid returning.

Battlefield’s Shadow

Some reckon Battlefield’s resurgence has only made CoD look worse. With Battlefield 6 pulling huge numbers during its open beta weekends, players started comparing the two franchises more than ever. Shroud himself only noticed CoD’s flaws after spending time with BF6.

Still, despite the criticism, CoD esports is far from dead. The Call of Duty League continues to pull massive viewership, and the release of Black Ops 7 could add some much-needed variety with its new movement mechanics and weapon arsenal. Whether that’ll be enough to silence critics like Shroud remains to be seen.