Call of Duty's 18 Year History: The Games That Saved the Franchise and the Ones That Dragged It Down

The Call of Duty franchise has amassed 32 games over 18 years, sold over 300 million copies and made over 18 billion dollars. As I put it, "that amount of money doesn't even exist." There are some truly great Call of Duty games and a few pretty bad ones, and many feel like yearly sports games: the same game as last year with an updated roster.

For this history I am sticking to the main series, if only to cut down on the amount of work I have to do. Near the end I explain why I think the series, and gamers, would benefit from a different release pattern.

The original Call of Duty helped pioneer iron sights and squad based shooting

Call of Duty was developed by the new studio Infinity Ward, distributed by Activision and released for PC in 2003. The first person shooter followed three World War II campaigns: American, British and Soviet.

It was one of the first games to use iron sights, or ADS, and it changed the typical FPS in other ways too. It had a more realistic, grounded feel. It limited the player to two weapons, made health and ammo the only pickups and made the player less mobile. It was also a squad based shooter. It marked the first appearance of Captain Price, and, spoilers, he dies at the end.

Call of Duty 2 brought regenerating health and the grenade indicator

Call of Duty 2 stayed in World War II. It came out for Windows and was an Xbox 360 launch title. It was the second Call of Duty console release, after Finest Hour a year earlier. It defined next gen with its amazing graphics and sound design.

It also brought regenerating health to the franchise, a fairly new concept in video games, along with the immensely helpful grenade indicator. Call of Duty 2 is a prequel of sorts. The first game covered 1942, 1944 and 1945, while Call of Duty 2 is set in 1942 and 1943. Its 1942 missions happen after the handful of 1942 missions in the first game, which is why Captain Price appears again.

Call of Duty 3 innovated, but World War II fatigue set in

Call of Duty 3 was Treyarch's first main series entry and a PS3 launch title. The first two games told American, British and Soviet stories all around the globe. Call of Duty 3 instead built American, British, Canadian and Polish campaigns around the Battle of Normandy.

It was the first time you could throw enemy grenades back and the first time the famous quick time events appeared. Every Call of Duty game before it had multiplayer, but this is arguably the first time multiplayer represented what it looks like today. Despite those innovations, great reviews and the highest sales the series had seen to that point, World War II fatigue was in full effect.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was the most important entry ever

Luckily, Infinity Ward addressed that fatigue with what I call "the most important cod ever," Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Going modern saved the series from fading into gaming history like Medal of Honor.

Modern Warfare is the series' best campaign. It has moments that stand out as some of the best and most surprising in gaming history, and one of the best single levels of any game ever. It also has near perfect multiplayer and introduced kill streaks, giving players UAVs, airstrikes and helicopters. It made Captain Price the series' most iconic character. This is the game that started Call of Duty's world domination.

World at War set up Black Ops and quietly introduced zombies

Treyarch came back a year later with World at War, a return to World War II set in the Pacific and Eastern Front theaters. Whether from the start or retroactively, Treyarch had a plan of its own: World at War set up Black Ops by starting Viktor Reznov's story.

The first Call of Duty had Jason Statham and Giovanni Ribisi, and Call of Duty 2: Big Red One used much of the Band of Brothers cast. World at War, though, was the first time the series really leaned into big name voice actors, with Kiefer Sutherland and Gary Oldman, and it started that trend. Its biggest impact was introducing zombies in a post credits Easter egg.

Modern Warfare 2 is the best Call of Duty game

In my view, Modern Warfare 2 is the best Call of Duty game. It is responsible for the kill streaks we know and love today. For the first time, players could choose three kill streaks, ranging from three kills all the way up to the game ending nuke at 25.

This was the game that made Call of Duty the multiplayer juggernaut it is today. It achieved that despite No Russian, a single player mission that is one of the most controversial moments in the series and in gaming. It is the sixth highest selling Call of Duty game and was the first to sell over 20 million copies and earn over one billion dollars. Modern Warfare started the world domination; Modern Warfare 2 solidified it.

Black Ops delivered a trippy story and the first full zombies mode

Call of Duty: Black Ops moved to a fresh period and setting, the 1960s, during the Cold War and the Vietnam War. It has a wildly trippy story that continues across many years and many games. This entry is the best of that storyline and one of the best in the entire franchise.

It contains the first full zombies mode, with four ridiculously cool playable characters you follow through a complete story. Partly riding on Modern Warfare 2's success, Black Ops was the highest selling Call of Duty game as of 2019, with over 30.99 million copies sold.

Modern Warfare 3 refined rather than reinvented

Modern Warfare 3 was made by Infinity Ward and newcomer Sledgehammer Games. Its advertising suggested that Modern Warfare 3 was World War 3, and the campaign delivered that in Modern Warfare style.

Overall it did nothing new. Instead it gave you more of the same, refined across the board. Finishing off the Modern Warfare storyline felt great, and as of 2019 Modern Warfare 3 had the second most copies sold in franchise history.

Black Ops 2 introduced branching stories and Pick 10

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 starts in the 1980s and eventually takes the series into its next phase: futuristic warfare. It was the first Call of Duty game with branching storylines, where player decisions can change the outcome.

Multiplayer brought changes and new options too. League play arrived for the first time, kill streaks became score streaks, and the new Pick 10 system gave players 10 total slots for guns, perks and equipment, allowing more customization. Unfortunately for Call of Duty and gamers, things went downhill from there for a while.

Ghosts and Advanced Warfare started the downhill run

Call of Duty: Ghosts was a launch title for PS4 and Xbox One and was set in the year 2023. It was the first standalone main series game, connecting to no previous or future entries. Despite the name, it did not tie into the fan favourite Ghost from Modern Warfare 2. It gave you a dog you could control in single player and introduced the running slide and character customization in multiplayer.

Advanced Warfare was Sledgehammer Games' first game as lead developer. Its futuristic tech made single player much better and multiplayer much worse. The exoskeleton let players boost dodge, boost dash, boost slide and boost jump, and offered choices of futuristic abilities. World at War started the big name actor trend, but Advanced Warfare took it further: motion capture technology put those big names into the game itself.

Black Ops 3, Infinite Warfare and the return to World War II

Black Ops returned in 2015 and went even further into the future. It is 2065, and players have powers and a thruster pack. Multiplayer added specialists with power weapons and special abilities. Like the rest of the game, zombies went further into the ridiculous, but that mode is supposed to be ridiculous. So while the rest of the game falls flat, this is arguably the best zombies mode, even if it is completely crazy. Infinite Warfare, meanwhile, is Black Ops 3 in space.

Call of Duty: WWII shifted back to the series' roots in setting and in some gameplay. For the first time in 12 years, Sledgehammer removed regenerating health, forcing you to find health packs again. Squad mates were a big focus, able to give you med packs or ammo, call in mortar strikes or spot enemies.

Other big additions included Headquarters, a social space much like Destiny's tower; divisions, which replaced the normal create a class system; and War mode. Fortunately, as of 2020, the first two had not survived into later games. Unfortunately, neither had War mode.

Black Ops 4 and Modern Warfare (2019) brought battle royale and saved the series again

Call of Duty 15, Black Ops 4, is multiplayer only, so it does not really count. It was, however, the first time the series jumped into battle royale, with Blackout.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare then returned to save the day, just as it did in 2007, rescuing the franchise from irrelevancy. This pre boot, a prequel reboot, saved Call of Duty from its own futuristic hell and returned it to the series at its best. At the time of writing in December 2020, it was the highest selling Call of Duty game of all time. It brought more Captain Price, a new Modern Warfare story, a return to classic multiplayer and, in Warzone, one of the best battle royale modes around, helping quarantine go by as quickly as it could.

It also took a historic step by introducing crossplay. No longer shackled by our consoles, "we can play with our one idiot friend who has the wrong system." As for Black Ops Cold War, at the time of writing in December 2020, the jury was still out.

I can't help but think Call of Duty would benefit from two years on and one year off

There is no question that Call of Duty is one of the most important and influential franchises in gaming. Ten of the top 15 best selling video games from 2010 through 2019 are Call of Duty games.

Even so, I can't help but think that Call of Duty, and in turn gamers, would benefit from at least a two years on, one year off kind of pattern.

Would a break in the yearly cycle make Call of Duty better, or is the annual release part of what keeps it on top?