Is Call of Duty's Single-Player Popularity Slowly Waning?

It cannot be denied that Call of Duty has been a popular game franchise over the years, with two decades of impressive shooter games released almost every single year. It is already a household name in the annals of shooter games, which definitely makes it quite promising for a legendary franchise to stay relevant at this point. But is the game’s popularity slowly waning?

History of Call of Duty Over the Years

Call of Duty has been a prominent franchise in the gaming industry for 20 years, even entering the esports scene with the use of Warzone and even Zombies. Still, it is worth noting that Call of Duty has managed to remain relevant over the years. Looking back to its early starts, the franchise has released a total of 20 standalone titles, which has made it quite promising through the years and a fan favorite at this point.

Here are the games that have helped Call of Duty thrive as a leading FPS franchise:

World War II Era

Call of Duty initially focused itself as a franchise that produces games with World War II settings. This has seen Call of Duty come up with with three leading titles in Call of Duty (2003), Call of Duty 2 (2005), and Call of Duty 3 (2006). Of course, there were a lot of expansions on that end, which allowed the franchise to build on more stories over the years. It was the standard of first-person shooter games at the time, and it even proved to be the spectacle as Call of Duty set the bar for combat and innovation of shooter game mechanics in the years to come.

World at War (2008) was a big break for Call of Duty image

In 2008, Call of Duty World at War took the world by storm with its unique setting and move from the European Theatre by also adding the Pacific Theatre after having three titles based on the European side. World at War also introduced one of the most popular features in Call of Duty, the Zombies. It was later carried on to the succeeding games that Treyarch developed.

Call of Duty: WWII (2017) reinvented the game's popularity image

After a break from the World War II games, Call of Duty went on to return to its roots a decade later with the release of Call of Duty WWII in 2017, which proved to be quite a revival of the original setting for the franchise. Developed by Sledgehammer Games, WWII received a promising review from the critics and was a commercial success after earning $500 million of revenue within just three days of its release.

Call of Duty Vanguard, despite its innovative graphics, received a mixed review from critics in 2021. It was a massive disappointment to the point where it even failed to meet the sales expectations from Activision, marking it as a bust among Call of Duty’s releases in terms of WWII-themed titles. It was considered a bust among all of the Call of Duty games set in the World War scene, and the fact that the game was somewhat focused on fictional characters inspired by real-life people proved to be quite baffling for many fans and critics that affected its reception over the years.

Call of Duty: Vanguard

Modern Era

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2007) changed the dynamic of shooter games at the time image

In 2007, Call of Duty entered its Modern Era with Call of Duty Modern Warfare. It was followed by Modern Warfare 2 (2009), and Modern Warfare 3 (2011), which was able to establish the biggest entertainment launch of all-time back then. The Modern Era of Call of Duty proved to be the defining point that has set the bar for the franchise’s standard in FPS games over the years.

Advanced Warfare (2014) was one of the most successful titles in the modern era image

The Modern Era continued with Call of Duty diving deeper into fictional elements of warfare, such as enhanced weaponry in Ghosts (2013) and robotics in Advanced Warfare (2014), which was a big hit at the time. Call of Duty Infinite Warfare was met with a lot of backlash for the franchise’s first entry into futuristic warfare that introduced a new setting in outer space and even zero-gravity environments.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare (2019) was a promising sight for sore eyes image

Seeing that the Modern era was way too far from the actual products that the masses were keen to see, Activision went on to reboot the Modern Warfare series, which was a promising look as the first release (Modern Warfare, 2019) took place in a realistic and modern setting, receiving praise for its gameplay and graphical advancements, as well as a solid retelling. It was later followed by Modern Warfare II (2022), and Modern Warfare III (2023). The series reboot was deemed a massive success, with a lot of tweaks to plot issues in the first Modern Warfare series, which was arguably the best Call of Duty series in years.

Black Ops Era

While Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games managed to establish the Modern Era of Call of Duty Games, Treyarch took the lead in the Black Ops era of the franchise, which built on the pace that was earned in the World of War’s sudden popularity. The first installment of this era was Black Ops (2010), which was set in the Cold War era.

Black Ops series was seen as Call of Duty's "Dark Side" image

The next games would follow the same settings, with a little bit of dive into the future, such as Black Ops II (2012) and Black Ops III (2015). Black Ops 4 (2018) strayed way too far from the original elements of the Black Ops storyline and failed to meet Activision's overall sales expectations.

Black Ops: Cold War was an interesting storyline that connected it to the Modern Warfare series image

This would prompt Treyarch to focus the next installment, Black Ops: Cold War (2020), which would go on to receive favorable reviews as well as becoming the best-selling title of 2020 in the United States. Black Ops 6, which is the next installment for the whole franchise, will serve as a sequel for the said game and will be released this October.

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Is Call of Duty’s Single-Player Popularity Waning?

It is worth noting that Call of Duty has seen success in multiple fronts: Warzone has become a considerable esports title on its own, and even Call of Duty Mobile has joined the prominent mobile shooter titles in the industry, and of course, Zombies remain a fan favorite at this point.

However, one should see the massive difference in the reception for the latest installment, which is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III. It has managed to become a promising title in its own, but it definitely received mixed reviews, as well as heavy criticism on its campaign mode – which was quite short than many players expected.

Here are some of the factors that play a huge role in Call of Duty’s deteriorating popularity on the Single-Player front:

Lack of Reinvention in Game Plots

Call of Duty has lacked a lot of plot elements after the first Modern Warfare series image

Game plots matter a lot to many players, and it cannot be denied that with Call of Duty being the lone wolf in the FPS genre’s top titles, it is easy to say that fans are now harder to impress and satisfy, and Call of Duty should consider coming up with more daring storylines. Some of the good options that they can consider are to dive into the current events, or even reinvent some war stories that have been there over the years.

Straying from the World War Genre

Let’s face it, Call of Duty has become a popular game by bringing in the massive storylines from the World War. There are even plenty of talks as to how some theatres of war and certain war stories in both World War II and World War I have not been touched yet, which is definitely an opportunity for Activision and its developers to actually come up with interesting results should they pull off a better game in the years to come.

The World War genre is yet to be revived for Call of Duty, again image

Will Call of Duty Revive its Popularity in Single Player?

Time after time, Call of Duty has found ways to reinvent and revive its prominence in the FPS genre, mainly on the single-player side. Over the years, Call of Duty has already outlasted the likes of Medal of Honor, Battlefield, and many other popular titles that have tried to challenge the dominance of the Activision franchise, and it is easy to say that it will definitely get back on track, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is hopefully a good start in the long run.

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