Call of Duty

This article is about the franchise. For the first installment, see Call of Duty (video game). For other uses, see Call of Duty (disambiguation).

Call of Duty
Logo used since 2023
Genre(s)First-person shooter
Developer(s)
Other
Publisher(s)Activision
Platform(s)
View
First releaseCall of Duty
October 29, 2003
Latest releaseCall of Duty: Black Ops 6
October 25, 2024

Call of Duty is a military first-person shooter video game series and media franchise published by Activision, starting in 2003. The games were first developed by Infinity Ward, then by Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games. Several spin-off and handheld games were made by other developers. The most recent, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, was released on October 25, 2024.[1]

The series originally focused on a World War II setting, with Infinity Ward developing Call of Duty (2003) and Call of Duty 2 (2005) and Treyarch developing Call of Duty 3 (2006). Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007) introduced a modern setting and proved to be the breakthrough title for the series, creating the Modern Warfare sub-series; a Modern Warfare remastered version released in 2016. Two other entries, Modern Warfare 2 (2009) and Modern Warfare 3 (2011), were made. The sub-series received a reboot with Modern Warfare in 2019, Modern Warfare II in 2022, and Modern Warfare III in 2023. Infinity Ward has also developed two games outside of the Modern Warfare sub-series, Ghosts (2013) and Infinite Warfare (2016).

Treyarch made one last World War II-based game, World at War (2008), before releasing Black Ops (2010) and subsequently creating the Black Ops sub-series. Five more entries, Black Ops II (2012), Black Ops III (2015), Black Ops 4 (2018), Black Ops Cold War (2020), and Black Ops 6 (2024) were made, the latter two in conjunction with Raven Software. Sledgehammer Games, which were co-developers for Modern Warfare 3, have also developed three titles, Advanced Warfare (2014), WWII (2017), and Vanguard (2021). They are also the lead developer for Modern Warfare III (2023), the third entry in the Modern Warfare reboot sub-series.

As of October 2023, Call of Duty has sold over 500 million copies and has 100 million monthly active players across all platforms.[2][3] The franchise generated $30 billion in revenue by 2022.[4] The series is verified by the Guinness World Records as the best-selling first-person shooter game series. It is also the most successful video game franchise created in the United States and the second best-selling video game franchise of all time. Other products in the franchise include a line of action figures designed by Plan B Toys, a card game created by Upper Deck Company, Mega Bloks sets by Mega Brands, and a comic book miniseries published by WildStorm Productions, and a feature film in development.

  1. ^ Fertino, Anthony (May 17, 2024). "Call of Duty Black Ops 6 to Release October 25". Insider Gaming. Retrieved May 18, 2024.
  2. ^ At half a billion sales, Call of Duty is as good as it’s ever been "The Call of Duty series has sold more than 500 million copies to date, publisher Activision-Blizzard told The Washington Post. This elevates it to among the best-selling game franchises in history alongside “Tetris” and the Pokémon franchise, and behind Nintendo’s Mario properties." October 30, 2024. Retrieved Oct 30, 2024.
  3. ^ Biggs, Tim (June 10, 2024). "Top-selling video games lead Xbox's annual refresh". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved June 12, 2024.
  4. ^ "The future of Call of Duty and 'Warzone". The Washington Post. June 8, 2022. Archived from the original on June 8, 2022. Retrieved July 1, 2024.