Call of Duty is a series of electronic games that enable players to take part in simulated (pretend) combat. The games are first-person shooters, a type of game in which the player sees through a character’s eyes and the action involves firefights. The first “Call of Duty” games were set in World War II (1939-1945). Some later games in the series have been set in more modern times. Some “Call of Duty” games have been set in the near future.
The first game in the series was Call of Duty (2003). It was developed by the company Infinity Ward, headquartered in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The game called on the player to work together with a squad of Allied soldiers controlled by the computer. The focus on teamwork made the game stand out, as most first-person shooters at the time emphasized solo action. Some Call of Duty sequels built on the World War II setting, recreating famous battles from various theaters of the war. These sequels included Call of Duty 2 (2005), Call of Duty 3 (2006), Call of Duty: WWII (2017), and Call of Duty: Vanguard (2021).
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007) became the first entry in the series set in the modern day. Rather than recreating history, the game presented an original story with spectacular set pieces (major scenes) and intense action. Previous “Call of Duty” titles had included the option of having multiple players, but Call of Duty 4 made multiplayer action a central part of the series. It helped turn “Call of Duty” into one of the most famous game series ever. The sequels Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019), and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022) expanded the action and multiplayer options. Modern Warfare became the first in the series to fully support cross-platform gameplay—that is, gameplay between players using different types of computer systems or consoles. Modern Warfare’s multiplayer mode can support 64 online players at one time in a massive battle.
The games Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (2014) and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (2016) took the series into the future, adding elements from science fiction.
Infinity Ward’s parent company, Activision, hired the game studio Treyarch to develop the related game Call of Duty: Black Ops in 2010. Treyarch is headquartered in Santa Monica, California. Black Ops was set during the Cold War, a period of intense rivalry between groups of Communist and non-Communist nations. Treyarch had developed some earlier games in the series, including Call of Duty 3, but Black Ops was the company’s first game to achieve widespread success. Treyarch also developed the sequels Call of Duty: Black Ops II (2012) and the futuristic Call of Duty: Black Ops III (2015).
