Why Call of Duty has lasted 20 years without triggering franchise exhaustion | Rob Kostich

Gamernyc78

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It has caused exhaustion for many so this premise is bs but it's true the majority keep coming back.


After 20 years, Call of Duty has hit more milestones than most other video games. As of last year, Activision’s first-person shooter combat franchise had hit $30 billion in lifetime revenue and 425 million premium copies sold to date.

The game debuted in 2003 as a rival to Medal of Honor, and it has outlasted that franchise. It reinvented itself with the launch of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and did so again in 2019 with Call of Duty: Mobile and in 2020 with Call of Duty: Warzone.

Call of Duty: Mobile reached over 650 million people, and Warzone topped 125 million downloads in its first year. And now there are more than 3,000 developers working on the Call of Duty franchise. It’s easy to find people who say they are tired of the franchise, but somehow they keep on buying the games.

More than those numbers, Call of Duty has given a lot of us a common gaming culture. We know what it means to frag an enemy, the joy of taking out a camper, and the companionship of talking with Warzone teammates late at night in the midst of a battle royale match. I enjoy the moment of getting in a last shot that carries the team to victory. OK, well, may that doesn’t happen as often as I’d like it to happen

What is surprising about Call of Duty is its resilience. Activision tripled down on its investment by getting three studios to work on games at once so it could deliver a Call of Duty game every single year. Then it put tons of developers on it at once to take the premium franchise to free to play with both the mobile version and the battle royale version. Activision delivered Call of Duty as a game service, and still the players didn’t burn out on too much content. It’s the game that keeps on giving.

I spoke with Rob Kostich, president of Activision, about the historic moments of the Call of Duty franchise and divergences like Call of Duty: Roman Wars and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. He talked about the opportunities ahead, the pluses and minuses of passionate fans, and keeping them happy. Kostich said the company has Call of Duty planned out through 2027. Let’s hope they keep getting it right.
 

Snes nes

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I never played any of these games but it’s surprising that people aren’t tired of this series yet. I think there’s some other things at play that help that tbh.
 
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Gamernyc78

Gamernyc78

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I never played any of these games but it’s surprising that people aren’t tired of this series yet. I think there’s some other things at play that help that tbh.
I get tired, lately I skip about two releases then by the third.
 
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Snes nes

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I get tired, lately I skip about two releases then by the third.


yeah from what I can see this is just what most people do. No one’s buying every game in the series. It’s huge but it’s not like actually good though. Idk I’ve just never heard anything good said about the games tbh.
 
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Gamernyc78

Gamernyc78

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yeah from what I can see this is just what most people do. No one’s buying every game in the series. It’s huge but it’s not like actually good though. Idk I’ve just never heard anything good said about the games tbh.
I mean they are the best feeling run and gun fps games and it's usually always smooth but the meta gets boring if you buy every release. Warzone was also great until they started updating and changing shit that imo didn't need to be changed and they made it less intuitive e.g. Inventory.
 

Snes nes

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I mean they are the best feeling run and gun fps games and it's usually always smooth but the meta gets boring if you buy every release. Warzone was also great until they started updating and changing shit that imo didn't need to be changed and they made it less intuitive e.g. Inventory.

On the current market maybe so given how games are these days. I don’t think it’s got much real competition tbh.
 
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Gamernyc78

Gamernyc78

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On the current market maybe so given how games are these days. I don’t think it’s got much real competition tbh.
Destiny also feels great. Competition or not though COD has always been the gold standard for smooth fps shooter.
 

Snes nes

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Destiny also feels great. Competition or not though COD has always been the gold standard for smooth fps shooter.

thing is I’ve never really played either. Shooters I’ve played have been splatoon perfect dark goldeneye quake 3 (some freeware version) and quake champions. Just not a genre I’m real keen on so i just never really paid much attention to cod games. The way people talk about the series online never made me want to play any of them tbh.
 
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voke

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Ngl i been wishing on this series downfall since 2014. Very disappointed its still so popular.

Mw2, Bo1, and Bo2 are some of the best multiplayer games of all time.
 
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Kokoloko

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After the Black Op1-2 remakes its gonna go downhil fast.
MW1-2 helped keep it alive for a while longer