Today, we are about to tackle a vast subject, thorny for some, logical for others. But it must be said that this franchise, which is now over twenty years old, has been running out of creative steam for many years. And yet, Activision seems deaf to the signs of weariness gradually being sent by the community, even though, paradoxically, the series continues to sell well.
Repeated successes and an undisputed leading position
For the publisher and its developers, Call of Duty remains a veritable gold rush, with over 500 million copies sold worldwide. Some titles have even surpassed 30 million units sold, such as Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010), Modern Warfare 3 (2011), Modern Warfare (2019) and Vanguard (2021). Others come close, such as Black Ops 2 (2012), which still achieved 29.6 million sales.
Diverse and varied experiences
Activision is also diversifying the experiences it offers, notably with Call of Duty: Warzone, a free-to-play battle royale game launched in late 2022 that has continued to evolve over the seasons. It was an instant hit, with more than 488,000 players connected simultaneously when it launched on Steam. Despite the passing years, Warzone still manages to attract more than 165,000 players at the launch of Black Ops 6, and more than 40,000 players on average every day. This is a solid foundation for the company, which should remain strong for several years to come if it continues to be managed effectively.
It’s also impossible to overlook Call of Duty: Mobile, which had one of the most remarkable launches in mobile gaming history in 2019, generating more than $480 million in record time, with more than 270 million downloads in a single year. In 2023, the game still had more than 57 million monthly active players worldwide. Its success is well deserved, thanks to its free accessibility and impressive wealth of content, including numerous maps, weapons, cosmetics, and more.
Creativity undermined for years
Nevertheless, the reason we are writing this column is that all is not rosy for the Call of Duty saga, and a general weariness has been felt for years. This weariness seems to be ignored by the development studios and Activision. The new installments are merely rehashes of an already overexploited franchise, such as Black Ops, now in its seventh installment, or Modern Warfare and its reboots. The lack of risk-taking prevents the series from venturing out as it once did with more daring installments such as Advanced Warfare and Infinite Warfare, which were set in a futuristic universe that was criticized, but attempted to move away from the original DNA. The result: it didn’t work, as it strayed too far from past or modern conflicts.
The franchise is also suffering from a real lack of momentum in terms of content, particularly on the multiplayer side, with the single-player campaigns often remaining enjoyable to follow. Offering a few hours of action-packed gameplay, they nevertheless feel like long tutorials before the online mode. The multiplayer mode, meanwhile, is often lacking at launch, both in terms of maps and weapons or game modes. We still find the same maps that have been recycled for over a decade, such as the ever-present Nuketown, Shipment, etc.
More than questionable choices
The focus is now on an astronomical amount of cosmetics and microtransactions, with collaborations often deemed ridiculous by the community. These clash with the tone that the franchise wants to convey, which is supposedly serious and military. It is therefore not uncommon to encounter skins of singer Nicki Minaj, famous football players, or even cel-shaded characters straight out of American Dad or Beavis and Butt-Head on the battlefield.
There is a clear sense that marketing has taken precedence over everything else. Added to this is a frenetic release schedule, with a new title every year, similar to what EA Sports FC does. This strategy is certainly profitable, but it stifles any creative ambition, as you can imagine.
In any case, this disenchantment is becoming increasingly palpable, particularly with the recent release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and the extremely negative reviews from players. Perhaps it’s time for the series to take a real break for a few years, to catch its breath, reinvent itself, and—who knows—come back stronger than ever, after successfully building anticipation around it once again.
