Call of Duty

Call of Duty is Activision’s annual first-person shooter franchise, running continuously since 2003 and now owned by Microsoft following the completion of its $69 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition in October 2023. The franchise has produced over twenty mainline entries developed across three primary studios, Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer Games, and is the best-selling first-person shooter series in history. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 in October 2024 was the biggest launch day in franchise history, and Black Ops 7 followed November 14, 2025. Warzone, the franchise’s free-to-play battle royale launched in March 2020, has accumulated hundreds of millions of registered players.

There was a point in my life where I would buy the yearly COD game. That was a long time ago though, now I will occasionally play, but I don’t need to buy it every year anymore.

The World War II Origins

The original Call of Duty released October 29, 2003, developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision, presenting World War II combat from American, British, and Soviet perspectives with an emphasis on scripted setpieces and squad-based survival. The game distinguished itself from contemporaries like Medal of Honor by prioritizing the feeling of being part of a larger military operation rather than a lone hero. Call of Duty 2 in 2005 iterated on the formula before Treyarch’s Call of Duty 3 in 2006 extended the series while Infinity Ward prepared the entry that would change everything. Infinity Ward released Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in November 2007, abandoning World War II for a fictional contemporary conflict that redefined what the series was and, through its multiplayer progression system, what online shooters could be. The killstreak system, the experience-based unlock progression, and the perk customization it introduced became standards the industry copied for years.

The Modern Warfare and Black Ops Split

Modern Warfare 2 in 2009 became the fastest-selling entertainment product in history at the time of its release. Treyarch’s Black Ops in 2010 introduced a Cold War espionage setting and the Zombies cooperative mode that became a franchise staple. The two studios settled into an alternating annual pattern with Black Ops II in 2012 representing the narrative height of the Treyarch line, introducing branching story outcomes and a charismatic villain in Raul Menendez. Sledgehammer Games joined as a third primary studio with Advanced Warfare in 2014. The pattern of Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer taking turns on annual releases has defined the franchise’s production model since.

Warzone and the Battle Royale Era

Warzone launched March 10, 2020, as a free-to-play battle royale integrated with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and downloadable separately. The game reached 50 million players within a month of launch and became one of the most-played games in the world through 2020 and 2021, drawing enormous attention to the franchise’s online ecosystem. Warzone has gone through multiple map iterations and has been integrated with each subsequent annual release, including Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7. The integration of the premium annual game and the free-to-play Warzone through shared progression and cross-platform play defines the current structure of the franchise.

Microsoft Acquisition and the Modern Era

Microsoft completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard on October 13, 2023, bringing Call of Duty under Xbox Game Studios ownership. As part of the acquisition commitments made to regulators, Microsoft agreed to maintain Call of Duty’s availability on PlayStation platforms for ten years and added all Call of Duty titles to Xbox Game Pass. Black Ops 6, released October 25, 2024, launched day one on Game Pass and achieved the biggest launch day in franchise history by player count. Black Ops 7 followed November 14, 2025. Season 3 Reloaded for Black Ops 7 and Warzone arrived April 30, 2026.