All Call of Duty games in order of release date: A full visual timeline
Call of Duty can still bring the heat after 20 years.
Activision’s first-person shooter video game franchise is celebrating its 20th anniversary in October – the first Call of Duty game hit PCs in October 2003. Its latest entry, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, arrives Nov. 10 for Microsoft and Sony game consoles and PCs.
A consistent blockbuster game release with annual editions every year since 2003, the initial Call of Duty games were based on World War II. Game designers and creators have constantly evolved the releases, changing the field of battle, moving to video game consoles, then to 24/7 online multiplayer games, and onto mobile devices. The settings have moved to the Vietnam War, to the present day and into the future – including space.
What time period each Call of Duty game in the main series is set in
“We’ve had so many great games and some big inflection points for us,” said Rob Kostich, president of Activision Publishing. “But it’s just continued to be a mainstay in culture.”
Call of Duty has been the best-selling video game franchise in the U.S. market for 14 consecutive years since the 2009 release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, according to data from Circana Retail Tracking Service. The only years during that period where a Call of Duty game was not the best-selling individual title of the year were 2013 when the honor went to Grand Theft Auto V, and 2018, when another Rockstar Games release Red Dead Redemption II took the title.
Activision Blizzard has sold more than 400 million Call of Duty video games over the years. Tens of millions play the annual video game release, which has grown to include single-player story campaigns and other modes including online multiplayer and cooperative games.
But Call of Duty is even bigger than that: Its free-to-play Call of Duty Mobile launched in 2019, has racked up more than 500 million downloads. Call of Duty: Warzone, a free-to-play game for consoles and PCs launched in 2020 and has topped 100 million players. A Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile game is in the works.
When each Call of Duty game was released
Call of Duty got its start when a squad of developers who had worked on the 2002 PC game Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, left that development studio 2015 Inc., to form Infinity Ward. The LA-area studio would create a pair of World War II-based games including Call of Duty 2, which included a mission in which the player had to survive the D-Day invasion – inspired by the Normandy assault scene in the film "Saving Private Ryan," directed by Steven Spielberg, who scripted and executive produced the initial Medal of Honor games.
“We attempted to make the situation for the individual player as chaotic and stressful as it must have been for some people on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944," Dale Dye, a retired captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, who served as an adviser on the Medal of Honor games, told USA TODAY in 2002. "The goal is to provide the player with some understanding and appreciation for a combat soldier's battlefield experience,” said Dye, who also served as a consultant on films such as “Saving Private Ryan,” “Band of Brothers,” and “Platoon."
Here’s a look at where the Call of Duty games have taken players over the years:
Call of Duty (2003)
Players joined U.S., British and Soviet forces fighting their way through historic World War II battles such as the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of Stalingrad. The game was awarded 2003 Game of the Year by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the equivalent of the video game industry’s Oscars.
Call of Duty: Finest Hour (2004)
This game for GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox, built on the original Call of Duty PC release, includes new missions in North Africa and Germany. You also get to drive tanks. AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson voices one of the characters.
Call of Duty 2 (2005)
A launch title for Microsoft's new Xbox 360, this game hit Windows PCs first and put players in a pivotal position during D-Day attempting to take Pointe du Hoc, a German-held clifftop between Omaha and Utah beaches. Better chips in PCs and the Xbox 360 allowed the designers to craft smarter squad mates and enemies. "You can actually hear where (enemy and fellow soldiers) are on the battlefield," said Vince Zampella, who at the time was Infinity Ward's chief creative officer. "To your left, you are going to hear them calling out, 'There's Nazis on your right-hand side, second window! They've got a machine gun,' or 'We are taking fire!'"
Call of Duty 2: Big Red One (2005)
Players on GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox got to enlist in this additional World War II story line as part of the U.S. Army's famed 1st Infantry Division. The game introduced aerial combat, which would become a standard in subsequent releases. Mark Hamill provided voiceover commentary and several actors from the HBO series "Band of Brothers" voiced characters, too.
Call of Duty 3 (2006)
This game, developed by Treyarch (a game development studio like Infinity Ward, acquired by Activision), featured digitally scanned actors and uniforms combined with squadron-sized motion-capture sessions. World War II veterans were consulted. New features aimed to get "closer to what happens in a real fight," said retired Army Lt. Col. Hank Keirsey, a consultant on this and other Call of Duty games.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)
The first Call of Duty game to venture beyond World War II into modern-day geopolitical situations and international intrigue with nukes, an anti-U.S. Middle Eastern warlord and an ultranationalist Russian terrorist involved. The game's multiplayer mode established Call of Duty as a favorite for online players. Along with Call of Duty 2, this game is considered among the best video games of all time.
Call of Duty: World at War (2008)
Actors Kiefer Sutherland and Gary Oldman provided voices for characters in this World War II-based game with action on the Pacific and Eastern fronts including Russia and Germany. World at War was also the first to include a totally separate game mode where players battled zombies. Also released in 2008 was Call of Duty: World at War – Final Fronts, a counterpart to World at War and the last Call of Duty game developed for the PlayStation 2.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009)
This picked up the story about ultranationalist Russians threatening world peace from 2007's Modern Warfare and included an episode involving a terrorist attack that got a lot of attention. It wasn't meant purely to shock, but to bring to players "the shape of modern warfare these days: violence against citizens," said Jesse Stern, a writer and executive producer with the TV series NCIS who helped studio Infinity Ward on the game. Sales topped $1 billion, surpassing box office receipts for top films.
Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010)
The first Call of Duty Black Ops game was set in the Cold War, with action in Cuba, Russia and Vietnam. Ed Harris, Gary Oldman, Ice Cube and Sam Worthington added voices and "The Dark Knight" screenwriter David Goyer consulted. At the time, the game went on to become the top-selling game ever, selling more than 25 million copies.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011)
This completion of a trilogy begun five years earlier includes a Russian invasion of the U.S. At the outset of the game, you must fight your way through Wall Street to destroy a radar jamming tower. Players would feel "the impact of fighting through New York," said Infinity Ward's creative strategist Robert Bowling. There was conflict behind the scenes too: During the making of the game, Activision terminated Infinity Ward co-founders Vince Zampella and Jason West. The two in March 2010 filed a suit, which was settled in 2012, and they started a new studio Respawn Entertainment, which created the new Titanfall franchise.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II (2012)
This game not only continued the story from 2010's Black Ops but also took players into the future with weaponized drones and other sci-fi technology – and it had different endings. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails created a theme song for the game too. And you could stream your game on YouTube.
Call of Duty: Ghosts (2013)
The first stand-alone game in the series in several years, Ghosts is set in the near future and included an outer space battle straight out of "Moonraker," as well as an underwater mission and another played from the point of view of a military-trained German shepherd named "Riley." A new perk: You could also create a woman soldier in the game's multiplayer game mode. This was the first Call of Duty game available for the Sony PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (2014)
Kevin Spacey played the head of a Blackwater-style private military company with imperialist ambitions in this game, set 40 years in the future. You don an exoskeleton, which gives you super-powered leaping and hovering power. This was the first game in the series developed by the studio Sledgehammer Games, which previously collaborated on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. "The Hurt Locker" writer and producer Mark Boal assisted on the story.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 (2015)
Black Ops 3 picks up the action from Black Ops 2 and moves to the year 2065 – a futuristic story totally separate from 2014's Advanced Warfare – when super soldiers have augmented body parts and built-in data jacks to connect to computer networks. The game also allowed for up to four to play and progress together, to help less-skilled players advance in the game. For the seventh consecutive year, Call of Duty was the top-selling video game in the U.S.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (2016)
More future-based action, but this time with actor Kit Harington ("Game of Thrones") playing a villain bent on destroying Earth. Much of the combat takes place in space with starship battles à la "Star Trek" and "Star Wars." The setting "allowed for some incredible innovations like Zero-G combat and space dogfighting," said then-Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg.
Call of Duty: WWII (2017)
The video game franchise returned to World War II for the first time in nearly a decade with actor Josh Duhamel ("Transformers") providing the likeness, voice and motion for one of the game's main characters. You again help the Allies advance on Normandy and, later, become immersed in a tank battle, and eventually make your way to occupied France and into Germany.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2018)
The first edition to drop the single-player story campaign, this online multiplayer included "Blackout," its own take on the "battle royale" game genre, popularized by "Fortnite."
Call of Duty: Mobile (2019)
This free-to-play game for Android and iOS devices included a battle royale mode for up to 100 players, plus other popular multiplayer games such as Team Deathmatch, Search and Destroy, and Domination on well-known maps from the games' history.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)
A modern-day game – photo-realistic settings were created in 3D photogrammetry software – that brings back the characters from 2007's Modern Warfare. "We wanted to reboot the franchise … with the characters we knew and loved," said Activision Publishing CEO Rob Kostich. "We wanted to tell new stories in new ways and bring Modern Warfare to the modern day." In addition to reengaging with familiar characters, you also play part of the game as a female Middle Eastern freedom fighter.
Call of Duty: Warzone (2020)
A free game to compete with "Fortnite," with crossplay across consoles and PCs with up to 150 players in its Battle Royale Mode. Quickly, the game grew to 100 million players and constantly gets new content.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (2020)
The premise here is somehow, the Russians swiped a U.S. nuke in 1968 and now that mistake has come back to haunt the Reagan Administration. Familiar characters from previous Black Ops games appear too. The first installment of the series is playable on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S.
Call of Duty: Vanguard (2021)
You face missions as four different characters in this World War II-based game – one of them based on Ludmila Pavlichenko, Russia's most successful real-world female sniper known as "Lady Death." New tough adversaries, nearly unstoppable soldiers called jagermorders, are deployed by the Führer's successor to thwart you.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022)
This sequel to 2019's "Modern Warfare" reboot continues Task Force 141's fight against terrorists. Along the way you must guide a missile to its target, disarm another missile, provide air support to your squad and, at one point, you are hurt and unarmed and must use stealth to escape.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (2023)
This game, due out Nov. 10, is the first time the franchise has carried forward a story in back-to-back years – and picks up after the cliffhanger ending of "Modern Warfare II." "This is a first for us," Kostich said. "You see this theatrically all of the time, 'The Avengers' have done it."
Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile (2024)
Four years after releasing Warzone, Activision adapted it into a free-to-play mobile game that allows players to link to their Activision ID and sync progression, weapons, friends and more if they've already played Warzone on a console or computer. "We're using the same animation, movement and weapon systems, all that stuff is just adapted for a mobile device," said Chris Plummer, Activision's head of mobile.