240°

How Did Call of Duty Get So Huge?

Techi: Between “Call of Duty: Black Ops” and “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II”, sales totaled over $1.2 billion… in the first 5 days after release. Gamers around the world flocked to stores for midnight releases of the games. Some paid extra, up to $170, to get the special editions of each game, which included working night-vision goggles for MW2 and a camera-mounted RC car for BO.

Active Reload4876d ago

"How Did Call of Duty Get So Huge?"

Being fun? I haven't bought a COD game since the first Modern Warfare, but I'm almost certain that if nothing else, then fun would be the blame for this question.

CrzyFooL4876d ago (Edited 4876d ago )

Muhuhuhuhahahahaha! muhhuuahahahahah!! MUHAHAUHAUHAUHAAHAHAHAHAH!!

/evil

-Mezzo-4875d ago

LMAO, Its rea;;y hard to tell that it not his actual; Photo.

FinalSpartan4876d ago

COD 4 - was great title, this is what begun this obsession with COD and the milking yearly. Well game quality is degrading...PS3 users buy our exclusives don't become like Xbox 360 where its most played game is COD. PS3 has much better games.

RedDragan4876d ago (Edited 4876d ago )

How did you manage to turn this into a console fanboy war?!

iamgoatman4876d ago

But COD is the also the most played game on the PS3 as well, is it not?

madara0sama4876d ago

Believe it or not MW2 was actually a good game. I logged over 700 hours.(not counting anymore lol) Even better then black ops(Which I think sucks). The only reason MW2 was bad because of the amount of rage it brought to people. Too much GL spammers but this was also a problem in cod4. It had to many fault in the balance of weapons and for the PC gamers no dedicated servers which could of been it's saving grace with customizable options and mods. It could of been a better COD4 with patches but then sadly COD series became a milked franchise. Black Ops barely has any rememberable maps. It even has parts in the map where people don't even go. Of course all maps have this but in black ops it just has too much. Not to mention how horribly Black Ops was milked and how bad optimized for the PC and PS3. I rather have a unbalanced game(mw2) then a unplayable game(black ops).

ProjectVulcan4876d ago (Edited 4876d ago )

Owned every proper Call of Duty game- UNTIL black ops. I felt the sheen went off the series with World at War slightly and then descended into needless sensationalism and more of the same territory with Modern Warfare 2. I remember right back to walking into the store and buying Call of Duty for my PC waaaay back in 2003. The game wasnt the best looking, it wasnt the most innovative with gameplay mechanics or story. Indeed Medal of Honour had covered similar territory and battles years before on the consoles.

However it was just slick. It thrilled you and grabbed your attention, it shouted in your face and put you in the raw chaos of war with its visceral depiction of brutal fighting, ear splitting audio and spectacular soundtrack. I will forever remember the Battle of Stalingrad in Call of Duty, it was a landmark moment for me in gaming. Many parts of the game were torn straight out of war films, particularly Enemy at the Gates. It made you feel the horror and yet the adrenaline one would expect. The accolades poured in.

I also fondly remember the launch of Gray Matter's expansions (now known as Treyarch) and COD2- coinciding with the launch of Xbox 360 way back in November 2005. This was really the point where the game started to reach a wider audience, spreading from its birth platform to a console. Sure there were COD labeled games on PS2 and whatnot, but it hadn't arrived in full glory on the console world until a near perfect conversion of Call of Duty 2 hit Xbox 360 and became that platform's biggest selling game. The first 360 title to reach 1 million units sold in NA.

Without Call of Duty 2, 360 would have had a much more difficult early life. It certainly sold the system to many who wanted the full COD experience but lacked a capable PC (remember the stunning 360 kiosk demos?), and it also really forced early 360 adopters onto xbox live, being THE game to play on Microsoft's new machine over the internet until Gears of War arrived a year later.

ZombieNinjaPanda4876d ago

@madara0sama

Believe it or not, MW2 was a shitty game. The game was plagued with glitch after glitch, shitty gameplay, horribly designed maps, and OP weapons and killstreaks. The game was not fun.

Shackdaddy8364876d ago (Edited 4876d ago )

@vulcan

I'm the same way. My best moment in CoD was in the first game during the Russian campaign when you landed at the docks and were only given a clip with no rifle.

I played every CoD game(even the less popular ones like big red one and finest hour). I liked WaW but that was mostly cus I like WWII games. Then MW2 and BO just ruined the whole series for me. Horrible games. MW2 wasn't as bad as BO though imo cus in BO, I didnt have any patience for another bad CoD game. I know I played MW2 at least two weeks more than I did for BO before I realized I was wasting my time.

Mainman4876d ago (Edited 4876d ago )

When COD4 released, it didnt really have much competition at the time. Especially for Online gaming.

I dont like FPS games myself, but I bought COD4 at the time because there werent any other good online games at the time. I played the game a bit, I got to the highest level without going presige, and then stopped to play it.

It didnt leave a strong enough impression on me to buy any of the COD sequels. But I believe COD4 is the biggest reason that COD franchise is as succesfull as it is right now.

But in my oppinion, it could have as well been MoH or Battlefield that would have had this succes instead of COD, if those franchises had released a game in the time frame of COD4 instead COD4.

I guess what I am trying to say is COD4 was lucky (or cleverly planned) that it released at the time frame that it was released.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 4876d ago
the_best_player4876d ago (Edited 4876d ago )

Because it's overrated.
The graphics and bugs are a joke is this day and age.
No real skill is needed to play COD games, unlike games like quake, unreal, hl2dm etc.

Dave13514876d ago

black ops is very over rated its like tryarch barely spent any time on it. whenever infinity ward makes a call of duty they spend hours upon hours polishing the game. tryarch blows big camel dick

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4875d ago
saint_john_paul_ii4877d ago

so thats what happens when you shoot Kotick in the head, money comes out the other side...

NegativeCreepWA4877d ago

Because every COD up to COD4 were amazing games. Every COD since then have still been great games, but in the end its just more of the same every year now.

RedDragan4876d ago

Couldn't agree more. It was amazing upto Modern Warfare.

After that... well. We all know the score.

the_best_player4876d ago (Edited 4876d ago )

I would replace that "amazing" with "just passable" or "nothing special but ok".

All cods after cod 4 are just MODs with no improvements to engine or big changes like you see in other games.

RedDragan4876d ago

COD 1 and COD 2 were amazing. COD 3 was ok. COD 4 came back to amazing.

COD 5, COD 6 and COD 7 are as you say... just Mods, and poor mods at that where graphics and glitches suffered.

Well actually, I suppose COD 5 was alright. (WAW)

FrankMcSpank4877d ago

COD4 was what did it. Took the fight out of WWII for once. Got everyone hooked. It did something different.

MidnytRain4876d ago

CoD is, to be frank, a "feel-good" game. The multiplayer is designed to grant instant gratification, so I think that's a major draw. It's one of the few games I've played that rewards the player that does well, then lets every gamer in the match know who that player is. Coupled with the fact that kill/death ratios are of so much emphasis, it is, essentially, a game that allows people to show off.

the_best_player4876d ago (Edited 4876d ago )

Killzone 3 day 1 buy.
COD sucks, hell even CSS is better than COD

sleepy34876d ago

But how is KZ3 diff from KZ2? KZ3 has added split screen (been there, done that), jetpacks (been there, done that since tribes), and slightly improved graphics (nowhere near the leap from KZ1 to KZ2. Meanwhile there is still no map editor, still no theater mode, and still lacking customizable options to make any crazy gametype that you want, say for instance, rocket race.

What did BO add over MW2? well theater mode (saw that already), split screen in MP (That's been done since halo 3), Wager matches (the only innovative thing really in the game) and that's it.

So when you look at it, NEITHER game does anything innovative to move the genre forward, NEITHER game gives us something we never saw before and BOTH games have us doing the same things in different environments. If you are gonna call BO for not doing much new and having things we've sen already, you have to take off the glasses and call KZ3 for the same. Thre is nothing in KZ3 that hasn't been done before in a console shooter.

As far as innovation goes, the most innovative console FPS is probably halo. First on consoles to do theater mode. First on consoles to do split screen online co-op. First on consoles to do split screen on-line MP. First on consoles to have a map editor than can even be edited by more than one person online simultaneously. First on consoles to have vehicles in MP that can be used by up to four players simultaneously.

As far as KZ goes, what is it first to do? What innovation does it bring that will be copied/integrated into all FPS's in the future? i don't see any.

Deleting4877d ago

I think people and especially people obssesed with COD got it through their heads that because Modern Warefare made the COD games great online that every COD from then on would be amazing or "the best game every" .....untill the next game got announced ¬¬

Show all comments (53)
100°

Please, can Call of Duty leave awful Netflix-style menus behind

Call of Duty games used to be streamlined experiences, but COD 2024’s UI could be another nightmarish clutter of streaming tabs.

Read Full Story >>
theloadout.com
LucasRuinedChildhood10d ago

Let's just leave Call Of Duty behind.

anast10d ago

The isn't for you anymore.

BlackCountryBob9d ago

If we’re beating that drum, can we also stop forcing anyone who wants to play only the single player to download Warzone and all updates BEFORE they are then able to do another download from the menu of the single player campaign. I don’t see why I need 150gb of downloads in several ways to play the single player mode only from a bloomin disk which should have that campaign on it already.

DefenderOfDoom29d ago (Edited 9d ago )

The UI is confusing to me because I have not purchased a Call of Duty iin like 8 years .Only bought CoD MW3 because 3 of my friends I have known since to 70s are playing zombies . But I am used it now .

smolinsk9d ago

The UI is the least of the franchise many problems these days. But yes the UI is also terrible.

200°

Players claim Fortnite ruined Call of Duty by letting in more corporate greed

Do you remember what gaming was like before Fortnite entered the gaming space? One of the biggest arguments was about loot boxes. Now we have conversations about crossovers, battle passes, and community outreach.

Read Full Story >>
gamesandwich.com
GoodGuy0922d ago (Edited 22d ago )

Idk. Loot boxes did disappear and battle passes and in game purchases are all cosmetic. We get free weapons and maps post launch, any gameplay affecting content. I could care less about all the cosmetics.
I absolutely hated the days where weapons were locked behind a less than 1% chance lootbox pull where it'd take 5+ hours to have enough tokens to do a single pull and lazy remastered/remake maps cost you $15 each wave or $50 for the season pass that you didn't know what you'd get and these maps were only available to those that bought it so you get a smaller pool of players match with.

Tacoboto20d ago

The "good ole days" are actually what drove me away from COD and Halo 3/Reach. Halo 4 becoming a COD-like drove me away from that only a week or so after it launched and I beat its campaign.

It sucked way back then, going a month or two without playing online-shooter-of-the-moment, and then needing to buy a $15 map pack to play with the majority of the population or your favorite playlist. The "community" rejecting Spartan Points in MCC killed that game's support, too. No revenue = no support, plain and simple.

Cacabunga20d ago

That headline could easily be something Spencer could have said 😅 I had to check if it was really an opinion piece

KyRo20d ago

As times gone on, the COD battle pass has got ALOT worse so they can push people to buy the more premium battle pass which itself is a huge rip off and nearly half the price of the base game.

The cosmetics can be fine but they've taken it to far to the point of no return. Why make a military themed game then have rabbits, dinosaurs, cats, rats & z list rappers as skins? You wouldn't add a Lamborghini to a fantasy RPG to replace a horse and you would never see Mario have limb dismemberment because they know what they are. COD is having identity crisis but kids and streamer but then all

franwex20d ago (Edited 20d ago )

Call of duty can simply not copy the bad aspects of Fortnite? Or is that too out of this world? Like COD, a realistic shooter-just HAD to have Nicki Minaj running around? Or super heroes?

Inverno20d ago (Edited 20d ago )

Exactly! Trends don't all need to be followed. Plus where Fortnite got somewhat better with it's monetization, Acti got worse. Or at least Fortnite has lended itself more to the wacky stuff, and has put more effort and quality into that stuff.

jjb198120d ago

I prefer the battle passes with free maps than the $50 season pass that divided the community. I definitely feel that Fortnite had some influence on CoD having loot boxes with Blackout being introduced in 2018 with Black Ops 4.

PRIMORDUS20d ago (Edited 20d ago )

Actually Fortnite bullshit ruined Unreal Tournament. Epic are sellouts and I will never have that shitty store on my PC, fuck them and that shit bag Tim Sweeney. At least the community keeps the games alive, I still play UT2004.

StoneTitan20d ago

I mean cant really blame them for supporting the game that made them the most money and the most people player...ever?

Psychonaut8520d ago

Call of Duty ruined Call of Duty. They needed no outside assistance.

Ra303019d ago

100% correct! The makers of Call of Duty ran out of ideas long, long ago so they take ideas from other games like Ghost Recon, Fortnite and any other FPS game hat had success hell CoD remasters maps that they've remastered several times already then charge you again for it. Call of Duty is simply a cut, copy and paste and then put the $70 price on it every year. Activision and now Microsoft has been essentially remastering Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare every year since it was released in 2007 its to the point it's worse than the sports game like the Madden, NBA and others yearly sports franchises.
@Psychonaut85 is spot on "Call of Duty ruined Call of Duty. They needed no outside assistance"!

Show all comments (24)
100°

Massive new COD Black Ops Gulf War leak lifts the lid on loadouts

The Black Ops Gulf War leaks continue with a list of weapon descriptions giving more info on what you can expect from new and returning weapons.

Read Full Story >>
theloadout.com