Activision’s long-running first-person shooter franchise has been pushing forward with annual releases for over a decade. Ever sinceCall of Duty 2’s release in 2005, a newCall of Dutytitle has launched between October and November of every year since, now spanning three console generations. Generally speaking,Call of Dutyhas seen renewed success every year in succession, even if certain entries were received better than others by critics and hardcore fans. However, it’s only been a recent and more significant trend with the last two annual entries where the annualization of the franchise is generally starting to impact the reception of the franchise.
After the largely excellent release of theCall of Duty: Modern Warfarereboot, the last two entries haven’t received quite the same degree of success. Criticisms of the lack of content plaguedBlack Ops Cold War’s multiplayer experience, and tangentially the integration ofBlack Ops Cold War’s weapons intoWarzonecaused controversy as well.Vanguardsought to remedy this with a greater collection of maps and more subtle changes to the multiplayer foundation, but otherwise didn’t make any fundamental changes with its WW2 setting beyondModern Warfare’s gameplay foundation. BothVanguardandCold Waremphasize thatCall of Dutyneeds more development time.
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Call of Duty Isn’t Failing, But It Is Declining
To clarify,Call of Duty: VanguardandCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold Wararen’t inherently or objectively “bad” entries in the franchise, both critic reviews and user reviews will emphasize that. Hardcore fans will have their gripes with the franchise’s iteration over time, whether that’s the differences in development engines and mechanics, or the overall game balance in multiplayer. However, beyondthe preferences ofCall of Dutyplayers, there’s been a recurring sentiment thatCall of Dutyhasn’t made enough innovation between entries to justify the amount of new games the franchise has received in as short of a time.
Sales numbers bumped withModern Warfare’s positive reception, and were maintained withCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s release, but the reception of the fifthBlack Opsgame was not as positive in comparison.Call of Duty: Vanguardhas received similar criticisms toBlack Ops Cold War, and as a result, has had marginally less sales compared toBlack Ops Cold War, even if it’s still a multi-million dollar franchise.Call of Dutyis definitely not failing by any stretch, but compared to past efforts, it’s a pretty swift decline paired with other problems plaguingCall of Dutygames currently, like cheaters, bugs/glitches, all culminating in the game’s mixed reception.
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Call of Duty Needs ‘Revitalization’ Beyond Annual Releases
In a vacuum, this doesn’t spell any kind of disaster or downfall for theCall of Dutyfranchise, but it does lend credence towards agrowing dissatisfaction with the annualized nature ofCall of Duty’s releaseschedule. Similar evidence and arguments were weighed against games likeFar Cry 6, which saw similar criticisms of iteration instead of innovation. Even withFar Cry, which has a distinctly narrative-focused gameplay loop empowered by charismatic villains, has an air of familiarity that many fans believe has made the franchise stale.Call of Dutyfocusing on short-term content to tide players over until the next annual franchise entry may not be enough anymore.
Infinity Ward’s former content strategist, Robert Bowling, summed up this sentiment in response to a tweet criticizing the status of theCall of Dutyfranchise currently: “We need more than iteration, we need revitalization.” Bowling, who now works atthe new Midnight Society development studio founded by Dr. Direspect, had previously worked on theCall of Dutyfranchise fromCall of Duty 4: Modern Warfare(2006) toCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3(2011). Bowling worked on some of the greatestCall of Dutygames of all time, many of which contributed to the series' meteoric rise in popularity, and yet Bowling was still quick to criticize the current state of the franchise.
Call of Dutyshould move away from its annual release schedule if it’s going to make any kind of significant overhaul or reinvigoration of the series.AsBlack Ops Cold War’s development will show, factors both interior (cut content, development crunch) and exterior (the pandemic, the ongoing Activision-Blizzard controversies) have contributed to the stagnation of the series. Under the assumption that a newCall of Dutygame is on the way this year, the reception of 2022’s annual release should help determine howCall of Dutywill fare moving forward. That being said, another iterative effort likely won’t move the needle for any of the potentially jaded fans ofCall of Duty.
Call of Duty: Vanguardis available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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